In a matter of weeks Cao Yun had helped advance the cultivation of many demonic beasts. Several of them were now 5-core demonic beasts and many more had formed their fourth core. Thanks to them, he could control a small army of demonic beasts. Although they were weak by themselves, they were a force to contend for when put together. Besides, Cao Yun used the information he had obtained from General Si Hongdi to choose his targets. Sometimes he sent all the demonic beasts in a single location. Sometimes he split them to hit several camps at the same time.
What General Meng Tian had noticed though was that some of those targets were absolutely annihilated with no survivor at all. Those targets were always those with the strongest cultivators. But for the other targets, there were always a few survivors. Indeed, the demonic beasts weren't as efficient as Cao Yun. As such, they let many demons escape during their assaults. But Cao Yun was much more thorough. Besides, he didn't want anyone to get any information on him. Thus, he always made sure that every soldier was killed. And he even devoured their souls and blood.
By doing so, not only he improved his strength and the strength of his small army of demonic beasts, he also obtained more accurate information and made sure that no one could somehow retrieve any of their memories. Thanks to that, Cao Yun knew exactly how the demons were dispatched in the Yanbei region. Moreover, no matter what orders General Meng Tian could give, the demons needed time to receive them and actually move to other locations. On the other hand, Cao Yun was probably the fastest cultivator in the entire Piaolu planet. And Hongyu was also one of the fastest demonic beasts, if not the fastest.
Cao Yun's raids kept on happening for weeks. Thanks to his small army of demonic beasts, he could mostly hide his movements as he was going straight for the capital Bibei. Unfortunately, General Meng Tian did see through his movements because of the lack of survivors during Cao Yun's attacks. Moreover, the young man was clearly avoiding to send his demonic beasts to camps that were too close to cities or villages. Clearly, he was trying not to kill any civilian.
Unfortunately, some civilians did die as they were either too close to the fights, or because they literally within the military camps for various purposes. Considering the current state of the Yanbei region and the Empyrean Asura Theocracy as a whole, many demons were trying to earn money by any means necessary. Some demons either sold their services or even themselves to the military just to get enough food to survive. Life in the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was getting increasingly difficult. But the priests and the theocracy didn't care so long as their war kept on going. Their hatred of mankind was much more important than their own people.
General Meng Tian kept on trying to trap Cao Yun but all of his men were slaughtered. At some point, he sent eight 5th-grade Accomplished Demons. With their battle formation, they could have even beaten him. General Meng Tian would not have died fighting them but he clearly couldn't have won either. Even he would have been forced to retreat in order to not sustain too many injuries. But his eight officers were killed. Nothing remained of their bodies, not even a drop of blood. Cao Yun had devoured their souls, condensed their blood into pills and burned their flesh to ashes with his Black Heart Flame.
Among the soldiers throughout the Yanbei region and even further, legends of a vengeful spirit spread. Since no one had ever been able to even see Cao Yun, the demons imagined what he could be. Despite General Meng Tian's efforts to keep Cao Yun's existence a secret, his legend spread and more and more demons were terrified by him. In fact, when they were attacked by demonic beasts, many demons simply ran away without fighting, afraid of being annihilated by the vengeful spirit. Besides, more demons were deserting the army day by day.
It was becoming a huge problem for General Meng Tian. Slowly he was losing the loyalty of his soldiers while feeling the pressure from the priesthood. With each loss, he was being rebuked. No matter how much he was trying to shift the blames on his subordinates, ultimately it was his responsibility.
To be honest, General Meng Tian was also afraid. And with each passing day, he grew a bit more scared of Cao Yun's legend and a bit less scared of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. After all, apart from the Empyrean Asura himself, there was no one as powerful as he was in the demon territory. To be exact, all those more powerful than General Meng Tian were on the front lines against the Hongchen Kingdom. Several times he even pleaded to get some reinforcements but they never came. The priests always told him that they couldn't lessen the war efforts. It was his responsibility to deal with those demonic beasts.
Moreover, the priests rejected the idea of a vengeful spirit or a powerful demon targeting them. They kept on insisting everything was caused by demonic beasts. Once again, General Meng Tian visited the Holy Hongxue City. While Bibei was the political capital of the Yanbei region, Hongxue was its religious capital. In fact, it had the third largest temple in the entire Empyrean Asura Theocracy. It had been built while the Yanbei region was still being conquered by the Empyrean Asura.
General Meng Tian had requested an audience with the Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng. Despite the current crisis, they took more than a month to accept his request. But finally, he was in front of the Temple of Grace and Submission. The architecture was extremely different from any other temple. The building itself was entirely made of stone as though it had been carved in a mountain. As it turned out, it had been. There were many statues of various demons. All of those demons were full-blooded asura and not the demons of the Piaolu planet with both human and asura heritage. In the distance, one could see the giant statue of Demon God Da Mo. If Cao Yun had been there, he would have recognized him.
Indeed, Cao Yun had seen his body when former Chief Elder Luoming Tian had tried to free him from the Devil's Jail. He had the exact same shape. From his body, many chains were coming down and descending unto the roofs of the various wings of the temples as though they had been manifested from Demon God Da Mo himself.
Being in front of such a large and majestic temple, General Meng Tian felt extremely small. Besides, he could feel the blood aura of the Empyrean Asura all over the place. Once again, if Cao Yun had been there, he would have recognized this aura. It was the same he had felt within priestess Yao Baiyi. Such an aura was familiar to the young man while being foreign at the same time. Even being near the Temple of Grace and Submission, Cao Yun wouldn't have been able to recognize clearly what it was. But it was definitely familiar. Honestly, he had his suspicion but he still wasn't sure about that.
General Meng Tian was led into the Celestial Demon Hall. All the priests wore the gown of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy and had very long black hair cascading over their red skin. General Meng Tian himself had very dark red skin, but all the priests he could see looked like they were pure asura and not just any other demon. Indeed, jut like humans, the demons had blood of both asura descendant and human descendant due to Demon God Da Mo's invasion of the Piaolu planet. But those priests had almost no human blood.
Some priests had been born like that through careful manipulation of the bloodlines while others were training day after day to destroy their human blood and replace it drop by drop. It was a form of blood cultivation that was extremely painful as it was seen as penance against the sin of being human, being further from their Demon God. That blood cultivation was only known by the priests but everyone knew its name, 'Burning Wheel of Expiation'. The priests who didn't reach a high enough level simply couldn't appear in the Temple of Grace and Submission. Either, they were not accepted at all, or they had to stay in seclusion within the Atonement Hall in order to cultivate until they reached a sufficient level.
General Meng Tian entered the Celestial Demon Hall and knelt in front of a statue for several hours. All this time, he didn't move a single muscle and even restrained his breath as much as possible. Anyone looking at him would have assumed that he was dead.
At last, Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng appeared. Unlike General Meng Tian, she was only an early Accomplished Demon. But her ability to control her own blood was astonishing. General Meng Tian didn't feel her presence at all until he was spoken to. Then, he opened his eyes and saw the old woman. Now that she wasn't suppressing her presence, General Meng Tian could feel an oppressing aura all around him. Her blood was rich and her vitality completely suppressed General Meng Tian. Although she was weaker, her bloodline was much superior to his.
Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng's skin was a pure crimson, her eyes were as black as the night but with white irises. On her head, her black hair was falling like silk and reaching the very ground on which she was standing. On the ground, General Meng Tian could see her delicate feet as her robe was slightly open. He was even flustered when she moved and he could see almost her entire slender leg barely hidden by her robe. Besides, her gown could hardly hide her voluptuous form as the fabric was stretched thin by her large chest.
Although General Meng Tian couldn't determine her age at all, he had the impression that she was much younger than he was. But it could be an illusion caused by her great vitality he could feel all around himself. In fact, she might even be older than he was. Considering the richness and purity of her bloodline, she would always look like she was in her twenties even after several centuries. Honestly, General Meng Tian was expecting to see such a charming woman as he had only treated with old men until then, and one irritating crone as well.
"General Meng, you have failed our Demon God times and again. You have failed the charge imbued to you by our Empyrean Asura. And yet, you keep on looking for excuses. Deal with the demonic beasts plaguing our holy land. If you fail again, there won't be any leniency."
"Holy Cardinal, please, hear this incompetent one's words. No demonic beast could be as smart as the ones we're dealing with. Although the rumors are obviously exaggerated, there is no doubt that..."
"Blasphemy! Watch your words very carefully, General. Stories of a vengeful spirit unleashed against our faith have been heard."
When she got upset, Ling Weisheng's words sounded like thunder in the Celestial Demon Hall. General Meng Tian himself felt his blood freeze in his vein. Somehow, her bloodline was completely suppressing his. Even though he was much stronger, he felt like he would be powerless in front of her.
"Holy Cardinal, do not mistake this unworthy one's words. Those rumors are spread by traitors and heretics. But they are based on a real enemy, a real threat who tries to undermine our Demon God and our Heavenly Demon God Faith. If my suspicions are correct, this threat comes from the Desolate Sepulcher, this land of faithless slaves. Indeed, it began near the Divine Blood Ocean. This subservient one knows that there is no direct proof, but this is the only logical explanation. After all, the Desolate Sepulcher did not honor their words. We have yet to receive the new batch of slaves."
General Meng Tian tried to choose his words very carefully and spoke slowly. In his voice, Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng could hear both fear and respect. She waited for some moments before reacting. But apparently, General Meng Tian had been successful.
"Fine, General. Your words do sound true. It is indeed possible that Lord Wanghuo betrayed us. We did intent to convert his pagan land after we've dealt with those human abominations. Our Heavenly Demon God Faith is being tested on many fronts. Such a test is an opportunity to prove ourselves and the purity of our bloodline. General, you've come here with a plan, I hope."
"Indeed, Your Holiness. Whoever is responsible for those attacks is going straight for our capital Bibei. I intend to lay a trap for them there. Unfortunately, I lack the ones capable of setting up powerful array formations, Blood Runes and seals. I would ask the help of your prestigious Temple of Grace and Submission. This time, I will put my own life on the line. Either I will succeed or I will die protecting our Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Please, help me in this endeavor."
Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng hesitated for a long time. During this reflection of her, General Meng Tian remained kowtowed in front of her. As much as he yearned to see her shape once more, he controlled himself and stared at the ground, waiting her answer. Considering everything that had happened, General Meng Tian feared that he wasn't a match for the vengeful spirit. He had to get help from the priesthood. In fact, he was hoping for much more than he was asking. This was his last desperate attempt. Even if he didn't risk his life, he knew that he would be killed for his failure.
In the worst case scenario, General Meng Tian might be deemed a heretic for his failure. Then, he could imagine the death he would suffer through...
"General, your words are reasonable. Our Temple of Grace and Submission will help you deal with this threat. But we have to make sure that you stay true to your oath."