Finally, the Six Fangs Generals and the Silver Wolf Marshal were free from the array formations all around the Holy Hongxue City. However, they were strained. Indeed, they had been trapped in there for around two weeks. Even though they were somewhat protected by the Temple of Grace and Submission, the array formations had affected them. Not only had they suffered from the effects of the array formations, but there was also tension between them. They were physically and mentally exhausted. Moreover, they had to make a decision. Or rather, their Marshal had to make a decision, knowing that it could affect the dynamics between him and his generals as well as among his generals themselves.
Lu Xiaoya wanted to speak but she restrained herself. Just looking at her Marshal showed her that he was tired and still resented her but also himself somewhat. Even merely bending his word had affected him a lot. Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan was a great leader and a powerful warrior, but she always thought that his unbending view of morality would be his downfall. At that moment, she hated being right.
He Wushuang was the first to talk.
"Marshal, what should we do? Now that Yu Xiangling is dead, that part of our mission is done and failed. But we still received orders to stop the rebellion. Should we go after the civilians who are fighting for their freedom or should we go after the man who killed Yu Xiangling and made us fail?"
Although He Wushuang's tone was calm and neutral, his words stabbed through everyone's heart. Unfortunately, they had no way of rebutting him. Indeed, their mission would be to stop the rebellion by going after civilians who had been oppressed by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Mo Qingsong put his hand on his hilt. Hearing his brother's words, he was ready to fight for his Marshal's honor. But deep down, he knew that those words were absolutely true. Although they didn't want to admit it, the Six Fangs Generals had all envisioned what their current mission would make them do. Despite their reluctance, they were ready to follow their Marshal. At least, they thought they were ready. But no one knew how far they would really go.
Obviously, Marshal Shanyin Guan was upset but he didn't blame He Wushuang. After all, his words simply exposed the truth he didn't want to face.
"Brother Xun, is your 'Blood-Scented Hunt' still active? Do you know where that man is?"
"I do! But I can't guarantee how long my seals will go undiscovered. If we lose too much time, he might escape me."
"Where is he?"
"He's been immobile for quite some time now. He's two to three days away to the west. My guess is that he's recovering and then, if he follows this direction, he'll end up near the border of the Hongchen Kingdom."
"I see."
Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan pondered for some time. If Cao Yun was recovering, this was the best time to strike. But the problem was that his own generals were also recovering and he wasn't in his best condition either. Besides, it was possible that Cao Yun had set up other array formations all around the place where he was currently resting. After all, he had clearly prepared it beforehand. That meant that they could also be faced with powerful array formations. This time, Lu Xiaoya would be even more careful and would analyze everything for a long time. Thus, it would probably take them around a week to really get to him, just to make sure they didn't fall into any trap.
Looking behind, Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan could also see the poor state of the Holy Hongxue City. In the city, there were still many people who were slowly leaving the Temple of Grace and Submission. Among them were also former servants and even slaves. Now that their masters were all dead, they had nowhere else to go. If they left them alone, those servants and slaves would suffer even more.
"We'll take care of the people in the Holy Hongxue City first. In the meantime, rest as much as you can, especially you, Sister Lu. Once we're done, we'll need you to find out any trap on the way. And we'll go directly toward this man. I'll fight him myself, you'll just make sure he doesn't escape."
"Marshal...?"
Mo Qingsong was bewildered. But he stopped himself. In his view, very few people actually deserved to fight his Marshal personally. Among them were a handful of heroes of the human kingdom, including the Silver Wolf General. Honestly, Mo Qingsong hated that they had similar nicknames. However, he had to admit that the Silver Wolf General was also a force to contend with. That being said, this Cao Yun might actually be worthy of his Marshal's attention.
What all the Six Fangs Generals got from those orders was that their Marshal was giving Cao Yun enough time to fully recover. By taking care of the civilians here, it would slow them down. They might only get to Cao Yun in three to four weeks, almost in a month. Clearly, he would have mostly recovered by then. So their Marshal wanted a fair and square fight. Finally, they remembered why they esteemed him so much. His view on honor could be a problem, but it was also something they admired in him. That being said, Zhai Tiesheng looked at him with a strange glint in his eyes. It was as if he was seeing something the others couldn't even guess. Zhai Tiesheng barely ever spoke so he was very observant of his comrades.
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In the meantime, Cao Yun was finally ready for his breakthrough. From his spatial ring, he had taken out several array formation plates and pills. Already, he had gulped down two pills in order to help him. They were both 5-star Heaven pill that had reached the Pure grade. Of course, Cao Yun had refined them before all those events. They were the Golden Blood Essence that promoted blood essence, and the Evanescent Jade Pillow that helped with mental fatigue and was able to increase concentration. Unfortunately, pills that could restore one's soul were legendary. In fact, only Spirit pills could achieve real results. Any pill under the Spirit realm that was said to help the soul was only just altering one's perception to make them feel like it was working. However, they could indeed work on the mind or on very specific things within the soul, like will.
All around the cave, Hongyu had brought several demonic beasts. She had quite literally organized a small army in a matter of days. A couple of those demonic beasts were even 7-core demonic beasts, just like Hongyu herself. Yet, they had submitted to her and her impressive forces. Slowly, Hongyu was somehow taking over all the demonic beasts of the region. This was useful, for sure.
With all those layers of protection, Cao Yun asked Dian Mo to finally let go of the Devouring Robber. Thus, still a bit worried, Dian Mo lessened his hold on the Turbid Demon.
The very moment Dian Mo released even a tiny bit of the Devouring Robber, a huge wave of pure hatred spread throughout Cao Yun's sea of consciousness. The sky turned black and the infinite ocean almost looked like some swamp. Cao Yun could feel a deep resentment, not only against him, but against all living beings. In a way, this was the same kind of resentment that inhabited many ghosts. His Po of Death had almost totally turned into a Turbid Demon. In fact, it was on its way to become a true inner demon.
Although they were called Turbid Demons, Cao Yun's aspects of his Po were not yet corrupted. Only a fully corrupted Po could truly by called a Turbid Demon. In 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks', the point was to tame and subdue them before they completely turned. In that sense, it was different from the actual asura cultivation system. Indeed, asura were forced to turn their Po into true Turbid Demons in order to subdue them. Obviously, it was much more risky but they had no choice. The Weaver of Souls was probably the first one to invent a method in which that had become unnecessary. That alone showed how important this method had been. Thankfully, he had decided to share it with Emperor Nuwa and the humans, not the demons. If he had shared it with Demon God Da Mo and they had spread it through the demons, it would have been a huge problem for humans. Indeed, it would have made the demon cultivation easier.
The Po of Death was extremely close to the Po of Jing, the Flying Poison. Indeed, the Flying Poison was related to the Earth element and to one's Jing, their essence. The Po of Death was the one who helped bring the body back to the earth after death and it was also tightly linked to one's essence as it was the driving force behind Death Energy. The Po of Death would turn one's Jing into Death Energy. Jing brought life, then sustained it, and finally ended it. That was why Cao Yun had used the Golden Blood Essence to promote blood essence as it would also energize his postnatal Jing.
For the first time, Cao Yun saw the true form of the Devouring Robber. Although a part of this body was still crushed under the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, it was fully manifested. It was hunched and malformed. Some parts were large while others were skinny. Its limbs were uneven and unnatural. For example, he had one scrawny arm and one long and thin arm. At its extremity, its arm had long and deformed fingers with broken claws, like serrated fingernails. It was as if it had tried to scratch metal and dirt. The skin on that long arm was covered in purple stretch marks and was cracked here and there, exposing the muscles beneath. However, the other arm had excess skin that was hanging here and there.
Its face was barely visible. Indeed, one could only see a gaping maw lined with many teeth that had grown all over the place. There were even some teeth outside of its mouth, some were growing through its skin and piercing its own skull. The teeth themselves were uneven and jagged. It was making a disturbing choking noise even though it was almost always trying to swallow everything around. It was choking on its own hunger. No one could actually see its eyes.
On its back, many small hands were growing like tumors. Each one was trying to grab anything that would come too close. Some of those hands were trying to stretch as far as they could while others were literally trying to rip the flesh from the Devouring Robber itself.
This grotesque spectacle would have made almost anyone sick. However, Cao Yun had already faced all the other Turbid Demons before. Even this current creature was nothing special for him now.
With all of its strength, the Devouring Robber was trying to get out from under the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Its small hands were pushing, but it had seemingly no leg to exert great strength. Most likely, they were still completely crushed and maybe not even formed yet. However, it tried to push with its small arm while the longer one was stretching farther and farther toward the Nine Soul Peaks around it. As it was stretching, the skin tore more and more. At the same time, there was a powerful suction force sucking in everything into the Devouring Robber's mouth.
Cao Yun was ready to fight back and to tame this abominable creature. In the sky, the seven Piercing Stars shined through the darkness. Cao Yun's Spear Heart manifested itself with hymns and a pure golden scripture. Under the suction of the Devouring Robber, some golden runes from the scripture were slowly being sucked in. Even the Drop of Wrath was being slowly sucked in. Although only a small part of the Devouring Robber had been released, it was already dangerous. Cao Yun could tell that anything it would suck in would strengthen it while weakening Cao Yun himself.
The figure of Cao Yun appeared within his own sea of consciousness with a spear in hand. Without any hesitation, he threw the spear toward the Turbid Demon. However, its small hands all over its body grabbed the spear and literally broke it into tiny pieces. Then, they threw those pieces directly into the demon's gaping maw.
Finally, the Devouring Robber pushed the Palace of Supreme Wisdom a bit away from its body. More of the Turbid Demon was freed. All over its body, new hands appeared. Suddenly, the scrawny arms expanded like tendrils connected to those hands. They tried to grab everything they could all over Cao Yun's sea of consciousness. Some grabbed the Nine Soul peaks, some grabbed his Five Aspects, some golden Insight Writings here and there. Some hands even reached into the firmament to grab the seven Piercing Stars.
As they grabbed and began to grip tighter and tighter, Cao Yun felt his own soul being constricted. He flew straight into the demon as many swords were appearing around him. Avoiding a frontal attack, Cao Yun escaped from the suction of its gaping maw. Then, he flew across the tendril-like arms and slashed many of them. But as soon as they were slashed apart, new tendrils spread from the flesh of the demon to try and reconnect to the hands. Cao Yun kept on slashing over and over again.
While the fight was getting fiercer, Cao Yun pushed his Drop of Wrath. It took on the form of Axiu Qian with his three heads and six arms. All the six Turbid Demons burst forth from the red asura. There were chains connecting them both to Axiu Qian and to the Nine Soul Peaks. All of them began to attack the Devouring Robber who was actually trying to suck them directly into its gaping maw. At that point, Cao Yun could sense a powerful resentment spread throughout his body. He could tell that this Devouring Robber wanted Cao Yun dead. This sensation almost numbed every other feeling and emotion, going to the extent of weakening his other Turbid Demons.
The Devouring Robber grabbed Axiu Qian's figure. One of its hands was clutched around Axiu Qian's neck, tightening it as it was trying to crush his throat.