The first thing Cao Yun was worried about didn't come to pass. Thankfully, the ship wasn't under attack yet another time. Since he wasn't sure about the situation, the young man didn't spread his spiritual senses all over the place. Instead, he went to the upper deck. Then, he finally saw his wish come true.
Before Cao Yun's eyes was God's Land. Although he had never seen his continent from this place, he recognized it right away thanks to the map of the entire planet drawn by Emperor Nuwa when she ascended. That Piaolu map was one of the sacred treasures of mankind. Even if it wasn't extremely detailed, it gave a clear idea of the shape of the continent. But even without this Piaolu map, Cao Yun would have recognized it. Indeed, there was a deep sense of familiarity. Although he had never been here, he could feel that he was back home. After nearly eight years, almost a decade, Cao Yun was back. Now, he had one goal in mind. He had to get back to the Hongchen Kingdom.
Cao Yun wanted to save his little sister of course. But he also wanted to defend the entire Hongchen Kingdom as well. Killing Emperor Weide without thinking of the future of his friends and fellow humans would only throw the Hongchen Kingdom into chaos. And the Empyrean Asura Theocracy might use it to wipe out mankind. Thus, Cao Yun also needed to make plans to take care of that looming threat.
At the moment, Cao Yun was at a disadvantage because he had very little information on the current situation. In fact, although he was hoping that his friends and the Hongchen Kingdom were safe, he couldn't know for sure. Since the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was still trying to buy slaves, Cao Yun guessed that the war wasn't over. That meant that mankind was not eradicated yet. But that also meant that they were still waging war. Cao Yun had no idea how much damage had been done to the Hongchen Kingdom and its people.
Obviously, the young man would have to garner information on his way to the Hongchen Kingdom. Besides, he had to find a path toward it. Although he had the Piaolu map, he wouldn't just rush forward through the air. Even with his stealth, he wouldn't risk exposing himself like that. Instead, Cao Yun would first explore the demon lands. His first task was to get a good understanding of what was going on. Unfortunately, the Hongchen Kingdom had always lacked good intel on the demons. But apparently, the demons had good intel on the Hongchen Kingdom. After all, they had probably spent decades if not centuries carefully crossing bloodlines in order to produce human spies.
Since Demon God Da Mo's invasion of the Piaolu planet, his asura bloodline had been mixed with the human bloodline. Nowadays, humans and demons had very similar bloodlines so by carefully planning, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had been able to suppress the asura blood of some children so that they would pass as humans. And indeed, there was no way to tell that they weren't humans. After all, they were humans. But they were also children of demons and were absolutely loyal to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. They had probably been indoctrinated since birth.
The crew was looking at Cao Yun as Fading Fang had stopped moving. They were still some distance away from the shore. In fact, they were facing a barren land with nothing in sight. Indeed, Cao Yun didn't want to arrive in a large city or in the usual harbor used by the demons. Jing Baiyu and his crew didn't have a complete map of God's Land but they knew those northern shores well enough. As such, they found the perfect place for their arrival.
"Boy, there is no settlement or village around this place. You won't meet anyone. But there are small villages not too far either. You should be able to find them very easily, if they still exist..."
Cao Yun looked at Jing Baiyu strangely.
"This Empyrean Asura Theocracy burns everyone they deem a heretic. It's not rare that small villages simply get wiped out while we're away. It happened a few times already... They don't have the Slavery Brand that City Lord Sihe invented so they can't rely on their own slaves for war too much. Of course, they also enslave some demons as well. After all, they've conquered most of God's Land apart from the human kingdom and a few small cities. But their slaves are mostly used for menial tasks or simply sacrificed to their god. Burning people for their Demon God is very common within the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Some even think it's a great honor..."
There was clearly disgust in Jing Baiyu's voice. Slavery wasn't much of a problem to him as he had been transporting slaves for decades if not more. However, it was the religious aspect that really rubbed him the wrong way.
Indeed, the teaching of the Weaver of Souls was completely opposite to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy who still worshiped Demon God Da Mo. In the Desolate Sepulcher, blood was everything. Of course, blood was also important for the Empyrean Asura Theocracy as they were demons. But they had a completely different outlook on it. For them, blood was also the vessel of one's soul. By burning their sacrifices, they were purifying their souls so they could rejoin Demon God Da Mo ans strengthen him. In a sense, they were feeding their gods by burning other demons. But they were also purifying them from their heresy as they were allowing them to join with their god.
"Thank you, Captain. I hope your way back home won't be as eventful as our travel was..."
"Don't sweat about it, kid. I told you already, the demonic beasts will be so busy fighting each other over the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor that we'll be just fine. I've already plotted our course back home. Yes it will be longer, but it probably will be safer as well. I would say that you're in even greater danger than we are and I know how strong you are. So you can imagine how dangerous it could be around here. The Empyrean Asura is much stronger that Lord Wanghuo. This isn't something I could easily say in the Desolate Sepulcher, but it's the truth.
"If the Divine Blood Ocean wasn't between us and those barbarians, they would have invaded and conquered us all a long time ago. So be extremely careful. I don't know why you've come here, but don't overestimate yourself. For the time being, they're focused on the humans so you should be safe as long as you stay discreet. Good luck!"
Of course, Cao Yun couldn't tell him that he was human in the first place. Besides, he had to stop the Empyrean Asura Theocracy one way or another at some point. He wouldn't let them wipe out mankind. But he did acknowledge the White Whale's worries. The Empyrean Asura was most likely a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon, maybe even a half-step Exalted Demon just as Matriarch Huang Yufeng was a half-step Sage. There was no real way to be sure. But anyway, Empyrean Asura was clearly a great threat. Cao Yun wouldn't be careless around him.
"Thank you."
The young man bowed slightly and even thanked the entire crew. Then, he called for Hongyu. Despite absorbing the Qi from the demonic cores of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor, Hongyu had not yet formed her seventh core, but it was getting closer and closer. She was still a Sky Tyrant Fenghuang. Leaving the lower decks, she kept on suppressing her aura with Cao Yun's teachings. The young man jumped on her back and circulated 'Ashen Feather Seal'.
His current understanding and mastery of this 'Ashen Feather Seal' was a bit higher than Huang Liyue's herself. At the moment, it was probably a 3-star or even a 4-star Heaven martial art. The 'Blood Withers While Life Flourishes' had been a problem to Cao Yun because he didn't have the bloodline of the True Fiery Fenghuang. But he had a deeper understanding of blood cultivation so he could easily use his bloodline in a similar fashion. Besides, he was currently circulating the technique through himself and Hongyu, using her bloodline as well. As such, his stealth became that much better.
As soon as he circulated 'Ashen Feather Seal', Cao Yun and Hongyu simply disappeared. Although they were still there, the crew was unable to sense them at all, even with their physical senses. Of course, none of them was even an Accomplished Demon. But to be fair, most Accomplished Demons and Spirit Warriors would be unable to see through this stealth technique. Apart from late Spirit Warriors and Accomplished Demons, only a handful throughout the Piaolu planet could possibly detect them. And even then, they might simply sense that something was off.
The two of them flew away from the ship. Immediately, Cao Yun recognized the space around God's Land. Space around the entire Piaolu planet was strange, almost as if it had been fractured. Most likely, it had happened either during the Great War between Demon God Da Mo and Emperor Nuwa, or during the invasion of Demon God Da Mo. In fact, Cao Yun wondered if it could have happened during the Legendary Era. After all, little was known about it, but most of the glorious past of mankind had been lost. After all, even the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal had been used a simple jail by the Wubei Sect. No one had been aware that it had been crafted by one of the greatest emperors of mankind, the Empyrean Human Emperor.
Cao Yun had grown interested in the Dao of Space after his reading of 'Daydreams on the Heidai Peak'. His time in other realms and even in the portal that had brought him to Desolate Sepulcher had fed this interest. Unfortunately, not even the greatest genius could understand anything of the Dao before becoming a Sage. Besides, Cao Yun wouldn't claim to be the greatest genius. He wouldn't be too humble either. But there were definitely cultivators who were true geniuses, and he wasn't among them.
In a matter of seconds, Hongyu reached the shore. There was indeed no sign of life or any activity around this place. In the distance though, Cao Yun could see some smoke. As Jing Baiyu had told him, there were small villages not too far away. Maybe this smoke came from such a place. Carefully, Cao Yun and Hongyu headed in that direction.
-
In a forest close to the cliffs, a group of eight Golden Blood Children were having a feast. They were sitting around a fire while enjoying some demonic beast meat. Two of them had their armors on while the others were more relaxed. Those armors were red and black with the insignia of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy on it, a drop of blood on fire. In fact, it was hard to differentiate between the blood and the fire as they were melded into one another.
All around the group, there were bodies of other demons. There was also a huge pile of ash. Although it was impossible to tell, it appeared clearly to anyone knowing anything about the Theocracy, that those ashes were also bodies. Either they had been burned after their death, which was a common custom among the Theocracy, or before their death. Unfortunately, both were common occurrences.
Among the bodies, not a single one of them belonged to a powerful cultivator. There were old men and women, a few children as well. Worse than that, there were moving bodies. They weren't completely dead yet. But they had been thrown in the pile of bodies nonetheless.
In another corner, there were a few young women, naked and bruised. They couldn't have been older than sixteen. One could imagine what had happened to them, and what would happen to them again, and again, until those men were done. Then, it was easy to imagine their final fate.
Finally, there was another young man who was probably fourteen or fifteen. The poor boy was tied by his neck to a tree. His feet were barely touching the ground, but it was enough so he wouldn't be strangulated to death by the rope. Just like all the other victims, he wasn't a powerful cultivator. In fact, he was the only one who had even achieved the bare requisites of the 1st-grade Blood Child stage. He was also naked and bruised all over. On his body, there were traces of burns and lacerations. His arms were not tide but they couldn't move on their own. Apparently, the soldiers had cut off his tendons, but not in his legs as he needed them to stay alive. And they didn't want to kill him yet.
The soldiers didn't care about those victims at all. They were all busy eating their fried meat. Soon, they would move again. Thus, they would have to kill everyone. But for the time being, the show was amusing enough. One of the soldiers even stood up and walked toward the broken girls. Grabbing one of them, he forced her to drink some wine while laughing as she was choking on it.
Suddenly, their fire got extinguished.
Although they were cruel, they weren't stupid. Immediately, they knew that they were under attack. All of them took out their weapons and got into some kind of battle formation. While being early Golden Blood Children, they could easily kill a middle Golden Blood Child and even protect their life against a weak late Golden Blood Child. This battle formation was indeed very good and they were trained well in it.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't help them at all against the threat coming for them. All of them could feel a cold rage surrounding them. There was a powerful killing intent focused on them. In their minds, there was absolutely no doubt that they would die today. However, they couldn't move at all. They were frozen in place by both terror and something else. Anyway, even if they could have moved, they would have been slaughtered nonetheless. There was no reason to spare such monsters!