Cao Yun had just come back to his continent but he was still a long way home. According to the Piaolu map, he probably still would need a few months to get back to the Hongchen Kingdom. Besides, he didn't know much about the situation. So he had to garner intel first. For that, he had to find demons who had this intel. Thankfully, he had spotted that smoke and went directly toward it.
With his current stealth technique, Cao Yun was extremely confident no one would spot it. After all, there was little to no risk that Empyrean Asura was here in such a remote place of his empire. That also went for any late Accomplished Demons. Thus, Cao Yun flew toward the smoke without any worry. Still, he was careful. After going to all this trouble to come home, he wasn't going to be reckless. Sometimes, it was just before one reached one's goal that things would go south, especially because one would relax and become careless.
In a few minutes, Cao Yun spotted the origin of the smoke. It was night and the fire was extremely clear even lost within the woods. Several trees had been cut off to create a small resting place and in its center, there were eight demons. Two of them were wearing armors and two of them were women with extremely long dark hair. Their skins were very red, accentuated further by the light of the camp fire.
All around them, Cao Yun could feel a powerful killing intent. Although one couldn't see the blood they had spilled, Cao Yun could feel it. Hell, he could even smell it in the air. Indeed, the young man saw the broken bodies, the burned ashes, and the tormented captives. All of a sudden, his rage peaked. If he had not controlled his Flying Poison and his Drop of Wrath yet, they would have exploded into fury. Immediately, he had the desire to slaughter them all. In fact, his killing intent almost broke his 'Ashen Feather Seal'. Thankfully, Cao Yun controlled himself. He let this anger pass through him.
Now, anger and rage were mere weapons for Cao Yun. He wouldn't lose himself in them. But he could still use them efficiently. However, that didn't mean that he didn't experience them nonetheless. Cao Yun was sincerely furious. Those eight Golden Blood Children were already dead. But he did need to know the situation before acting out of impulse. Then, he would need to extract some information out of them. Finally, they would meet their just punishment.
Cao Yun sent his spiritual senses all around the area. In it, he had especially focused on his Flying Poison. As such, he had magnified his killing intent. Suddenly, the eight demons took out their weapons and got into some kind of battle formation. Although Cao Yun didn't recognize it, he was able to easily spot their weaknesses.
This battle formation wasn't too bad considering their cultivation. In fact, Cao Yun would have even praised their teamwork if it had been in different circumstances. Clearly, those eight demons knew how to work together. Even a mediocre battle formation would have become good in their hands. But it would never be good enough for them to deal with a 6th-grade Accomplished Demon such as Cao Yun.
There was immense tension in the air. As the demons could feel Cao Yun's rage, Cao Yun could feel their fear. They knew that their lives were at risk. And yet, none of them tried to run for it. At the very least, they were used to life and death situations. If one of them broke the battle formation, they truly would have no chance at all. But with it, they might be able to survive. Although the chance was slim, it was better than nothing. That being said, they would rather avoid a fight if possible. And since they didn't know who their enemy was, they were still waiting.
Using that to his advantage, Cao Yun didn't show himself and only relied on his asura cultivation, not revealing he was human. From all around the demons, Cao Yun's voice echoed. It was impossible to tell where it was coming from. In fact, some times, it sounded as though it was coming directly from their own minds. The group's terror increased again. Right now, they were facing a powerful Accomplished Demons. Even though they couldn't tell his cultivation, they could guess that he was either a late Accomplished Demon or very close to becoming one. And they were correct.
"Who are you?"
A woman bowed in a random direction as her companions lowered their weapons and knelt on the ground. Their weapons were mostly long range weapons but there were two huge broadswords too. On their halberds, spears and broadswords, Cao Yun also recognized the serrated blades he had grown accustomed to in the Desolate Sepulcher. Indeed, making one's opponents bleed to death was probably a universal tactic among demons. After all, blood was quite literally Qi for the demons. Losing blood would make anyone weak of course, but it wouldn't deplete humans of much Qi. On the other hand, demons would also lose great amount of Qi. However, it was harder to make them bleed. As their cultivation rose, demons' blood became denser and heavier.
For example, Cao Yun's Golden Blood was so dense that merely cutting his skin would not make him bleed at all. Thus, those weapons were quite useful to induce bleeding when dealing with demons. Clearly, those demons were used to fighting other demons, not humans.
"Senior, we're envoys of the Burning Blood. Our task was to punish heretics who turned away from our Demon God."
"Was your task to torment them to such degree as well?"
The woman seemed embarrassed by the question. However, there was no remorse at all. In fact, she genuinely looked like a child who had made a small mistake and got caught. This made Cao Yun even more furious.
"Senior, we had been on missions for a very long time. My companion and I needed some entertainment. But I assure you that we'll deal with those poor souls according to the rites. We will purge their heresy in the Holy Fire. Rest assure that we won't fail in our mission."
"You said that those are heretics?"
"Indeed, Senior. They refused to worship Demon God Da Mo. Their own neighbors denounced them. Despite our efforts to bring them to the light, they didn't listen. They kept claiming that Demon God Da Mo was a devil and that Empyrean Asura was a tyrant. Apparently, they didn't worship any living god. Some even referred to Traitor Nuwa as Emperor. Such heresy cannot be accepted. We've burned their houses and found several heretical documents. Unfortunately, there are still too many heretics and we can't focus our efforts on the humans because of those traitors."
"I see..."
That was it. Cao Yun didn't need to hear more. Once he was done with them, he would simply search their seas of consciousness himself.
All of a sudden, the poor boy who was hanged fell to the ground. The rope tying him to the tree had been cut by Cao Yun's spiritual senses. Before the demons could react, a young man had appeared before them. Obviously, this was Cao Yun.
He had put on an azure robe looking very similar to the robes of the Wubei Sect. Of course, it didn't have any symbol of the Wubei Sect on it. So the demons couldn't recognize it at all. But it did appear strange to them without being able to tell what was different. By their reaction, Cao Yun guessed that he would need new clothes. Even this robe appeared too human. For the moment he didn't care as those demons would not survive the night.
Cao Yun was unarmed and Hongyu was still hidden. However, the eight demons were not stupid. They immediately knew that this normal looking young man could kill them all with ease. For the time being, they were still waiting to see how things would evolve. Hopefully, he would just scold them and ask them to deal with the heretics. None of them could imagine that such a powerful Accomplished Demon was not a follower of Demon God Da Mo. And the thought that he wasn't even a demon to begin with didn't enter their mind one instant.
"I'll let you perform your move first. After that, you're dead!"
The killing intent around the group peaked. There was no doubt about it. The man in front of them was going to kill them. Although they didn't know why, it was absolutely certain that his mind was made up and there was no talking him out of it. That also meant that they had only one chance to survive this encounter. As such, they did not hesitate. If their enemy was overconfident, they would use it to their own advantage. In the past, they had already killed an early Spirit Warrior with their tactic. There was no reason it wouldn't work on an Accomplished Demon.
To an untrained eye, their kneeling positions would look submissive. But to Cao Yun, they were clearly fighting positions. Their goal was to give the impression of submission so as to create confusion and surprise when they suddenly turned deadly. None of that would work on Cao Yun. At the moment, he was testing his Spear Heart. Indeed, he had not taken out his spear or any weapon for that matter, but his sea of consciousness was brimming with the golden hue and the hymns of his Spear Heart scripture.
Suddenly, all demons drew their weapons and attacked with perfect coordination. All of their Wei Qi melded into one. Even their blood cultivation was synchronized as they unleashed all of their strength in a single attack.
'Godly Pyre of Pure Bliss'!
All their Qi and Blood Incarnation turned into fire. The eight of them literally looked like their skin was made out of living fire. Tongues of fire erupted from their weapons as they struck forward. They went directly for Cao Yun, attacking from many different angles, cutting off any possible retreat. However, the young man had no intention to retreat. Instead, he raised two fingers with his right hand while his left hand stayed behind his back.
As he raised those fingers, they appeared as though they were a spear. Maybe it was their own attack creating some kind of illusion. But the eight demons saw a spear suddenly materialize in the man's hand, or rather in place of his hand. Then, he stabbed forward with what now appeared to be merely his hand.
Without any special technique, Cao Yun's spear hand stabbed toward the battle formation itself. However, he wasn't aiming at any demon in particular. Instead, he was aiming at a weakness within the battle formation. Battle formations were similar to array formations. Instead of changing the flow of the natural Qi with flags or other instruments, battle formations altered the flow of Qi within several fighters and between them. But that did meant that their was a complex flow of Qi between the fighters. And Cao Yun had just targeted a weakness within this flow.
As his strike hit, their battle formation was disrupted. It suddenly collapsed on them. To their surprise and dismay, the flames turned against them as they suffered a backlash. It wasn't enough to kill or even injure them severely. But it completely ruined their plan. Indeed, they intended to unleash all of their strength and simultaneously run away. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had not taken the bait.
Now that their battle formation was down, Cao Yun pressed forward. In a flash of lightning, he arrived in front of the woman who seemed to be the leader. Once again, he simply used his two fingers and stabbed her in the shoulder. Her right arm fell to the ground as her shoulder exploded. A man behind her got caught in the attack as Cao Yun's Spear Heart had turned his hand into a deadly spear. His head simply disappeared in a mist of blood.
To their credit, the demons didn't panic. They didn't just kill elderly people and children. Indeed, they had been on the front lines against the humans as well. Although they were terrified and almost certain that this was their end, they stood their grounds and fought. Since they couldn't flee anymore, they had to at least do something, anything.
All of them were ready to attack Cao Yun but he simply moved too fast for any of them. It was as if time had slowed down. Lightning struck three times. This wasn't lightning though, it was Cao Yun moving around and stabbing with his right hand. At no time did he move his left hand. In fact, his posture barely even changed. He simply appeared at one spot and moved his right hand in a very natural and relaxed manner. Each time his hand moved though, blood would be spilled.
The eight demons were now on the ground. Five of them were dead for sure. One had a gushing hole where her heart used to be. Another demon had simply been cut in half. The other two had lost their heads just as their other companion had.
But the three remaining demons were in no state to fight back. Their leader had lost her right arm completely. Because of this wound, she had lost so much blood she was unable to even move. The killing intent from Cao Yun had literally entered her body already and she felt as though she was in a burning hell while still feeling extremely cold at the same time. The sensation was more disturbing than painful as she was in shock. Her two surviving companions were in terrible situations as well. In fact, they were both dying at the moment. But they still had enough time left for Cao Yun to get the information he wanted from their very minds and souls.
Among the victims of the eight demons, only the boy's mind was clear enough for him to understand the scene. He simply couldn't believe what he was seeing. For days he had hoped for those demons to die in agony. And now, his wishes had come true before his very eyes.