After spending long days observing the Temple of the Lesser Blood King, Cao Yun was ready to act. In his mind, he had a perfect map of the entire temple as well as the routines of every monk and priest within. He imagined his attack several times in his own sea of consciousness. Unfortunately there was no hidden secret within the temple. But hopefully, the high priest of this temple would have what Cao Yun needed, or at the very least, enough information so Cao Yun could know for sure. Indeed, Cao Yun had some idea on the origin of this familiar feeling. But he also had some doubts. He had to be certain!
At last, Cao Yun attacked. All around the Temple of the Lesser Blood King, an array formation appeared. The branches and leaves of a giant tree appeared above the temple. Although one could see a large trunk, if they tried to get close to it, it would always appear to be in the distance, just like a rainbow. It was illusory. However, the branches & leaves felt extremely real. The entire Temple of the Lesser Blood King was under the shadow of this giant tree. The shadow wasn't dark though, it was perfectly white.
All the colors of the world were gone. Only remained black and white under this strange shadow. No one could recognize the white tree creating this ominous shade apart from Cao Yun. This tree was the spitting image of the Moon Sheltering Adansonia.
Cao Yun had created this array formation himself using his experience with that demonic tree along with his deep knowledge of array formations. It was difficult to rank it as of yet. Indeed, Cao Yun was still refining it. But it should be at least a 2-star Heaven array formation. Cao Yun had named it the 'Dome of White Lightning'. Not only had it been inspired by the Moon Sheltering Adansonia, but it also contained some understanding of his 'Three Storms' as well as tinges of his very Spear Heart.
All the priests felt as though their blood had become heavier under that white shadow. Some weak priests died in a matter of seconds as their blood simply couldn't move in their veins. The stronger priests were able to move their blood themselves, but even they would end up dying with time. Indeed, moving such heavy blood was taking its toll on them. Apart from late Golden Blood Children, the other cultivators could not sustain such efforts for very long. Thus, the priests immediately tried to run away, to leave this ominous shadow.
As soon as the very first priest left the white dome, a branch acted up. It turned into a lightning spear and stabbed toward the young priest. Since he was only a middle Blood Child, his entire body was charred in an instant. The spear didn't even stab him. The very moment the spear reached it, the lightning and the heat simply turned his body into charred meat. Obviously, many priests who were running away from the white dome stopped in their tracks. Leaving was a death sentence on the spot. But staying would allow them to live a bit longer.
Cao Yun was controlling the array formation himself. It wasn't powerful enough yet, but with time, Cao Yun was certain he could make this array formation completely autonomous. At the moment, if too many people tried to exit the 'Dome of White Lightning', the array formation wouldn't be able to keep up. And right now, Cao Yun was waiting for the high priest to leave the Temple of the Lesser Blood King while slaughtering all the other priests.
Seeing that the priests were terrified and didn't even dare get too close to the limit of the white dome, Cao Yun was pleased. He circulated all of his blood circulation, all of his Qi cultivation and mobilized his Spear Heart.
Many branches of the Moon Sheltering Adansonia turned into pure lightning. Suddenly, they were launched toward the ground. A deadly rain fell upon the temple. Many priests were killed while the temple itself sustained a lot of damage.
Finally, the high priest left the temple. He was a middle-aged man. Like most of the priests, his skin was very red, but it still wasn't anything like a true asura. In fact, it wasn't even too different from some humans who had a lot of demon blood in their veins. This high priest had no hair at all on his head, but he had a very long mustache that fell on both sides of his mouth. On his body, there were tattoos and scarification meant to help him cultivate 'Burning Wheel of Expiation'. Under the 'Dome of White Lightning', he had a hard time circulating his blood cultivation but he was a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon.
Because of the array formation assaulting him, the high priest seemed unimpressive. First of all, his aura was suppressed, but his complexion wasn't good either. Besides, his face was extremely banal. He really looked like a mere mortal. The very moment he stepped outside of the temple, the strange white shadow devoured all the color around him and his red skin turned white.
Around the high priest, around twenty priests were gathered. They were all 1st-grade or 2nd-grade Accomplished Demons as well. Together, they probably had the strength to take down even a 5th-grade or 6th-grade Accomplished Demon. Just by looking at them the very first time, Cao Yun had known that their battle formation had to be extremely good. Although they were not soldiers, they were well disciplined. In a sense, the discipline within the Temple of the Lesser Blood King was even higher than within the military. Besides, they were practicing the exact same cultivation methods and arts in general. In other words, they were perfectly synchronized.
In fact, it wouldn't surprise Cao Yun too much if they could hold their own against himself. That was why he had prepared himself in consequence. Stealth and intel were deadly weapons. Those priests had lost before the fight even started.
Cao Yun finally unleashed the full strength of the 'Dome of White Lightning' array formation he had created. The branches of the Moon Sheltering Adansonia spread toward the ground all around the Temple of the Lesser Blood King. Until now, they had simply been above the temple but now they were literally forming a dome all around it. Within the branches, electric arcs flew everywhere like white and blue snakes.
The priests were all running inside the temple by then. After seeing those who had died trying to leave, they had decided to protect themselves within their own temple. Indeed, it had many defenses. Even the damage caused by Cao Yun's attack was only superficial. Not a single priest believed that their temple would fall. After all, they were under the protection of the Heavenly Demon God, Demon God Da Mo. Besides, they could all support the high priest.
Indeed, every priest circulated their blood cultivation in order to support the battle formation whose central pillar was the high priest.
"Whoever dares violate our sanctuary will feel the wrath of the Heavenly Demon God. Brothers, do not lose your faith. Let the world fear the Heavenly Demon God. Let his blood wash away all impurities and bring us salvation!"
After those words, the high priest spoke in tongues. Obviously, Cao Yun recognized the language as it was a form of Antique Sixian. It was similar to the way the Sisters of the Abyss prayed as well. Clearly, both Demon God Da Mo and the Weaver of Souls had come from a place where they spoke Antique Sixian. Cao Yun was fairly certain that this language had been a form of universal language between several people speaking in various languages and dialects. By now, Cao Yun could speak it fluently. But even then, he couldn't understand everything the priests were saying. Indeed, their own Antique Sixian was extremely broken.
Some of the words didn't even exist and the grammar was terrible. It was almost impossible to get the meaning behind those words. But it was more of an incantation or a mantra. After all, none of the priest could speak Antique Sixian to save their lives. Anyway, the high priest's words clearly galvanized the other priests. That was precisely what Cao Yun was waiting for.
All their blood vitality rose up. The battle formation around the twenty Accomplished Demon priests and the high priest manifested itself. The shape of a giant tiger appeared in the air. Its blood was plentiful. From the Temple of the Lesser Blood King, a giant pool of blood emerged. It spread until it crashed against the dome made by the branches of the Moon Sheltering Adansonia.
This blood tried to diffuse into the branches themselves. But the Moon Sheltering Adansonia stayed incorruptible. On the other hand, the image of the giant tiger leapt toward the skies. With its claws and its fangs covered in fresh blood, it tried to destroy the dome above the temple and the priests. This image was a form of Qi Manifestation, but it had been manifested by the blood of all the priests. It had the strength of a 6th-grade Accomplished Demon. In other words, even Cao Yun's array formation wouldn't resist very long. However, it also meant that the priests were using all of their strength in this attack.
At last, Cao Yun revealed himself. He simply appeared in the air with his 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' while circulating all of his cultivation. Before the priests could react at all, Cao Yun struck toward the bloody tiger.
'Azure Dragon Tears the East Sky'!
The branches of the 'Dome of White Lightning' turned into thousand of lightning swords. As Cao Yun used his Spear Heart, the full golden scripture appeared in his sea of consciousness. In the outside world, a golden hue faintly surrounded Cao Yun's head as well as his spear. In his hands, the spear turned into a typhoon that went straight for the bloody tiger's heart, or at least where its heart was supposed to be. It was the center of the point where the blood energy was focused in order to manifest this animal.
The force of the typhoon swallowed all the branches that had turned into lightning swords. The Moon Sheltering Adansonia still had some branches left, just enough to maintain the white shadow, but nothing more. Even on the ground, the pool of blood was stirred, some of the blood was even caught in the typhoon. Before the priests could fully understand what was going on, Cao Yun struck toward their Qi Manifestation.
His spear backed with all of Cao Yun's Spear Heart and cultivation stabbed through the heart of the bloody tiger. In an instant, it completely exploded into a rain of blood. Once again, this blood wasn't real, it was the physical manifestation of the priests. Their own vitality had manifested this blood. As such, they all suffered from an intense backlash as their battle formation was so forcefully broken.
Cao Yun didn't leave them any time to recover. Immediately after crushing their strongest battle formation, he flew toward the high priest. As the middle-aged man was coughing some blood, Cao Yun caught him by the throat. After the backlash, the high priest needed some time to recover, but this time would never come. Cao Yun had planned it too well. Rising in the air, he crushed the high priest's throat.
It looked like he was just using his physical strength to crush the man's throat, but it wasn't that simple. In his movement, he had poured his 'Axiu Qian's Blood Wrath' martial art. In particular, he had used his understanding of vibration. Thus, the impact went through the entire body of the high priest. When Cao Yun's hand closed, the body of the high priest literally exploded like a water balloon. His blood rained everywhere on the temple. As it was raining down, Cao Yun sent his Black Heart Flame into it and the very drops of his blood were burned into nothingness.
Besides, Cao Yun had already entered his sea of consciousness before killing him. Thanks to that, Cao Yun had already forcefully taken the high priest's soul. When he destroyed his body, the high priest was already dead as his ten souls had been separated from his flesh.
All that was meant to intimidate the other priests and to destroy their will to fight back. Besides, Cao Yun even went as far as to use his 'Weeping Demon' mental attack. It was magnified by the current situation. Under the 'Dome of White Lightning', Cao Yun was the only one who still had some color around himself. And the blood of the high priest had been extremely red in this white world. But suddenly, it had turned black before completely disappearing. Similarly, the will to fight of the lower priests had been completely crushed.
This sudden lack of will caused the battle formation to crumble. Without the high priest, it was weaker but it should have still endure thanks to the other twenty priests. Unfortunately, a lot of the blood vitality left it in an instant. This caused the battle formation to be too unstable. Obviously, the other Accomplished Demon priests tried to quickly form it again. But they too had suffered from the backlash. Without the backing by the other priests, they would need some time.
And they didn't have this time. Cao Yun sent his Turbid Demons into the seas of consciousness of the priests he had deemed the most important. All of them instantaneously collapsed on the ground. In their seas of consciousness, they could barely resist as their souls were forcefully extracted. As they had not been prepared and they suffered from the backlash of the battle formation, they couldn't resist much. Cao Yun had done all that to make this attack easier.
After taking the souls of those he wanted, Cao Yun had no use for the other priests. That being said, he decided to first look through the memories of the souls he had already taken, just to be safe.