Cao Yun spent a lot of times on those seals but yet still couldn't tell what this familiar feeling was exactly. Of course, he had some ideas, but he couldn't be absolutely sure of what it was. At the moment he thought about chasing down other priests to get more information. Not only could he learn more about those seals, he would obviously get more intel on the Empyrean Asura Theocracy as well. After all, those priests had a lot of power since it was a theocracy.
During his short seclusion Cao Yun also worked on his Soul Embryo as always. Using his 'Golden Hammer on Silver Rock', the young man decided to incorporate more and more of his Turbid Demons into the mix. Immediately, he noticed a stark difference when he used his Yin Bird. Both Yin Bird and Devouring Robber were the cornerstone of one's Po. Indeed, Yin Bird, the Po of Life was the part of the Po that helped form the body during gestation and in one's early life. On the other hand, Devouring Robber, the Po of Death, was the part of the Po that dealt with all the processes of death, either separating the Hun from the body or the decomposition of one's flesh. This Po of Death was the one that turned into Death Energy first and then altered all the rest of the Po.
From what Cao Yun had felt and perceived, this process of turning the Po into Death Energy was also preventing the formation of Evil Qi. If the Po wasn't converted into Death Energy, the emotions within the Po would turn all of the Qi into Evil Qi. Thanks to this conversion into Death Energy, the Po couldn't corrupt all the Qi. But if someone's emotions were strong enough, they could still convert some of their Qi into Evil Qi. And there were also techniques to force this conversion as well. Cao Yun was slowly getting deeper and deeper understanding of all those processes. They were extremely mysterious at first, but he was improving bit by bit.
As much as Cao Yun could feel a huge difference when it came to his Soul Embryo, he still couldn't estimate how long it would take for it to awaken. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long. In fact, Cao Yun hoped to have achieved this before getting back into the Hongchen Kingdom.
Talking about the Hongchen Kingdom, Cao Yun was thinking about it a lot. After much time thinking about it, he had decided not to go back immediately. With the memories of General Si Hongdi, Cao Yun knew exactly how to get to the Hongchen Kingdom. It would still take a few months. And on the way he might do some work to help the Hongchen Kingdom in the war. But he also had other projects. Since he intended to kill Emperor Weide, Cao Yun was aware he might weaken the Hongchen Kingdom which would allow the demons to wipe the humans out. Obviously, he didn't want that. Thus, he might as well weaken the demons.
Thankfully, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was much more fragile than he had feared. Yes, the Empyrean Asura had been able to unify the entire continent against the humans. But the cost of doing that had been immense and there was still a lot of resentment. Since he couldn't win the war easily, such resentment piled up. Honestly, even without Cao Yun's involvement, this Empyrean Asura Theocracy could not hold. At some point, it would crumble into pieces. The only things keeping up the unity were war and terror. And the war wasn't working so well...
Moreover, Cao Yun intended to come back into the Hongchen Kingdom by the Subei Province. It was the easiest and closest entry point. Honestly, Cao Yun's main goal was to get back to the Wubei Sect where he could find support. Unfortunately, the Wubei Sect was extremely difficult to reach from where he was. Even with his current cultivation, it would be hard. Besides, Cao Yun also had some support in the Subei Province. In General Si Hongdi's memories, Cao Yun had seen some familiar faces, among which was General Yun Po and his son Yun Ping.
From what he had seen, General Yun Po's cultivation had not improved. After all, he was already a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, breaking through was harder and took longer for him. Besides, the Forsaken Dao Era made it increasingly difficult to break through and impossible to leave the Spirit Warrior realm. On the other hand, Yun Ping had reached the stage of half-step Spirit Warrior. Considering those memories were a bit old, Yun Ping might actually be a Spirit Warrior by the time Cao Yun got to see him again. even with his missing left arm, Yun Ping was a fierce warrior on the battlefield.
Knowing that some of his friends were alive and well had brought more hope to Cao Yun. Although he had no way of knowing, he was certain that his brothers and sister were also fine. They couldn't have died in this war. It unthinkable!
-
At last, Cao Yun left his cave. Hongyu wasn't there so he found her easily with his compass. When he got to where she was, he saw that she had subdued the king of all demonic beasts in the region, the Brown Collar Viper. The large snake was in fact much smaller than the Muddy Bashe Cao Yun had encountered when he had first met Hongyu's parents. Compared to the Muddy Bashe, the Brown Collar Viper had only one more demonic core. Still, it was much stronger than the Muddy Bashe. It had a slender body that could easily burrow underground. Considering its name, its main characteristic was a kind of mane all around its neck. At first glance, it was hard to tell if those were hair or feathers. But they were in fact many tiny feathers the same color as the dirt.
Besides, the entire body of the Brown Collar Viper was covered in many tiny scales that helped it drill the ground and hide. Hence, its body wasn't huge or it would impede its ability to dig and to hide. As a predator, it spent a lot of time hidden in the ground, waiting for the right opportunity. Unfortunately, it had completely failed before Hongyu and was now absolutely submissive. Besides, when it felt Cao Yun's presence, the snake was so terrified, it couldn't move while its body was shaking intensely.
Ruling over the demonic beasts could be a good thing. This would allow Cao Yun to cause even more chaos. Besides, the Brown Collar Viper was absolutely terrified. Thus, it would obey them without any question or disobedience. In other words, Cao Yun could use the demonic beasts to create a small-scale demonic beasts stampede. Even in demon territory, Cao Yun wasn't comfortable about killing civilians. After all, civilians were already being oppressed by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. So he wouldn't cause a real stampede. However, if he could send demonic beasts attack specific locations, this was another matter entirely.
Moreover, it would also hide his own involvement. Indeed, Cao Yun didn't want the Empyrean Asura Theocracy to get wise to his presence too soon. If they thought the cause of the chaos was demonic beasts, they would act differently. Considering that they were culling demonic beasts as well, they would also think that the demonic beasts were weak, not at all on Cao Yun's level. Thus they wouldn't send their elites right away so they could keep them on the battlefield, allowing Cao Yun to weaken the theocracy even further.
As he thought about that, Cao Yun's killing intent spilled a little, intentionally. The poor Brown Collar Viper barely stayed conscious. In front of Hongyu it was already afraid, but now there was a human with demon blood who was way beyond its abilities. If Cao Yun wanted to skin the snake alive, he probably wouldn't even need to move a muscle. But Cao Yun didn't simply rely on fear. Besides, he wanted powerful demonic beasts.
From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out a few pills and ingredients. In front of the Brown Collar Viper, Cao Yun began to refine more and more pills. Finally, he gave one to the Brown Collar Viper. Because it was terrified, it obeyed Cao Yun even before he could speak or do anything. Besides, the Brown Collar Viper could sense something extraordinary from this pill. When it gulped it down, the snake immediately felt as though his fifth core was about to form. It didn't go all the way but it was extremely close. It had waited almost two decades for his Earthen Acacia Root to be rich enough to help him form this fifth core. Because it was hiding in the ground, the Brown Collar Viper had avoided any culling but his cultivation had been slowed down a lot. With just one pill, it had improved more than in the last two decades. Obviously, it was overjoyed.
All of the terror within the demonic beast had disappeared instantaneously. Now, Cao Yun felt as though this large deadly snake was a small puppy wagging its tail. And for all intents and purposes, it was.
Later, the Brown Collar Viper would even gift his Earthen Acacia Root to Cao Yun. With his knowledge of alchemy, it wasn't difficult for Cao Yun to refine great pills out of this precious ingredient. In the end, the snake was able to form its fifth core thanks to the prized root he had kept safe all those years. It shed its skin and finally became a 5-core demonic beast, a Blood Dirt Viper. It was a bit smaller and had kept on its mane of tiny feathers that looked bigger because of its tinier body. On the other hand, its scales were now sharper and deadlier. With a strike of its tail, it could slice through almost anyone. Even half-step Accomplished Demons or Spirit Warriors would be in danger if that Blood Dirt Viper launched a sneak attack on them.
In a direct fight though, the Blood Dirt Viper wasn't that powerful. Any middle Accomplished Demon could probably kill it. But it would never attack head-on, always relying on its stealth, hiding underground to launch devastating sneak attacks. Unless a cultivator noticed its presence, it was a deadly demonic beast for all under the third realm of cultivation.
-
In a large city in the northern region of the continent, a war council was taking place. Around the table were many men and women wearing the symbol of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. There were also a few priests and priestesses. In total, around fifty demons were talking. And their leader was a rather young man. It was hard to gauge his age. He looked to be less than thirty but was probably four or five hundred years old. However, he was a 6th-grade Accomplished Demon.
Like anyone else around the table, he was wearing his armor even inside. Right now, they were deep within the capital of the northern region, Yanbei. The capital was called Bibei. And this young looking man was General Meng Tian. His skin was a very dark shade of red with deep black eyes and a thick untidy beard. In fact, all his appearance was disheveled, not just his hair. Even his armor was covered in patches of dirt and dried blood here and there. Beside him were a tall priestess with an impeccable appearance and the contrast was impressive.
When he spoke, his voice was extremely deep and betrayed his real age. Around the table, he was the strongest cultivator by a large margin. In fact, General Meng Tian was close to becoming a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. Everyone could feel it in their souls when he spoke. Besides, there was also a form of anger in his voice. Indeed, he should have been on the front lines earning glory for his name. Instead of that, he had been left behind to deal with petty revolts. At the moment, he was no more than a servant of the priests around him.
Being forced to obey weaker demons who had never even been on a battlefield made General Meng Tian mad. But he had to prove his qualities. Hopefully, he could break through soon and reach even a higher position. In the entire continent, apart from the front lines of course, he was the highest officer and the strongest demon, at the exception of the Empyrean Asura himself. And yet, he had to take orders from the priests when it came to slaughtering the heretics...
"What are those reports I hear about?!"
General Meng Tian's anger was not concealed at all. When he spoke, he slammed a few papers on the table and almost broke it on the spot. Thankfully, it had been reinforced since previous fits of rage by General Meng Tian himself.
An elegant woman spoke first after bowing respectfully.
"General, we're still unsure of what's going on. In the last few weeks, several of our outposts and camps were attacked. Apparently, demonic beasts did it. But the survivors are always few. Besides, those demonic beasts only target our camps. Maybe they're chasing for cultivators to devour in order to produce a stronger demonic beast."
"Ridiculous! We've culled every powerful demonic beast! I've killed the last 6-core demonic beast myself. There shouldn't be a single one with more than four cores. Besides, you're missing the point! Not only were our camps targeted, not a single town or village was hit, by any demonic beast at all. They are actively avoiding them. This looks nothing like a stampede or a hunt."
"General, dealing with mere beasts is not the priority at all."
An old man with pale skin and white hair talked. Although his voice was weak, no one dared speak when he talked directly to General Meng Tian. Even the General had to be docile before the old man as he was the representative of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Talking to him was like talking to the Empyrean Asura himself.
"Holy Cardinal, with all due respect, we can't deal with heretics or revolts if our forces are being killed. Besides, there is another matter concealed within this one."
General Meng Tian was forced to restrain his anger when he talked to the old man. But everyone could feel that his respect was extremely limited. If anyone else had said what the old man had said, General Meng Tian would have slapped some sense into them.
"Oh? Do tell. What could escape the wisdom of the Demon God?"