Back in his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun looked through everything. The most critical aspect he wanted to examine was of course the Drop of Wrath. Now, he had a better understanding of what it was. When Axiu Qian died, he was at a level that transcended everything Cao Yun knew. In fact, the mere idea of a sentient being flying through space was part of the legends. The people from the Hongchen kingdom believed their planet, called Piaolu, to be a ball of earth, metal and water animated by fire. It was covered with one large ocean and only one continent.
In fact, this vision of their world was brought to them by Emperor Nuwa. It was said that when she ascended, she witnessed the Piaolu planet in all its glory and majesty. As such, she revealed the truth to all humans. She left them words of wisdom and a map of the entire planet, not just their own kingdom. Before her, no human had the luxury of wondering about such matters.
The Piaolu map was part of the sacred treasures of mankind, as well as the 'Universal Law of Immortality'. It was considered as a way to tell humans that they would end up dominating all the land. There were other relics from this time as well, but right now none of that was important.
When Axiu Qian saw his demise, he tried to embed his soul into every drop of his blood. But this white fire destroyed both physical and spiritual aspects of him. Not a wisp of his soul had survived. Only a tiny bit of his Po had persevered. The Po was the corporeal soul. Cao Yun was familiar with it because that was one of the characters he was cultivating with 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks', Po the Metal Corporeal Soul.
The Po was made of seven parts working together. One of those parts was the Po of Jing. Every part of the Po was responsible for the vital functions of the body. Despite being from another species, Axiu Qian also had this soul. In fact, his body was different but his soul was pretty similar. However, every part of the Po could be corrupted by emotions. The Po of Jing was corrupted by anger. This anger got further intensified by the white flame when everything else around it was burned away. Even the other parts of the Po were destroyed, and caused a great unbalance. This speck of Po turned into the Flying Poison, a corrupted form of itself.
Vague memories of Axiu Qian subsisted within the Drop of Wrath but only bits and pieces. The first events and the very last moment of his life had so much impact that they were mostly intact.
Now, Cao Yun understood better. This also explained why it reacted so violently with his Po character since it was a kind of rival to it. But it also meant that he knew how to better control it. By using his understanding of the Po, he could focus specifically on the Po of Jing to put a leash on the Drop of Wrath. And he also understood what it was doing. It was trying to rebuild the other parts of itself. Being corrupted, it was of course attracted to Evil Qi. And being a drop of blood, it obviously consumed blood, not Qi directly. So when a blood filled with Evil Qi got near it, it could not restrain itself.
But Cao Yun got reassured. This Drop of Wrath was neither an inner demon nor a ghost. Inner demons were born from the Shen, they were obsessions nested within the mind. Ghosts were born from Hun. To be precise, they were born from any damaged parts of the Hun when it left the body after death. As such, there was almost no risk for the Drop of Wrath to have any sentience. In fact, it was trying to acquire just that. But as long as there was no sentience within, Cao Yun's chances at controlling it were better.
Strangely, Cleansed Asura had never written about this. There were many notes about his experiments with this Drop of Wrath in 'Domination of Wrath'. But he only seemed to have understood its ability to strengthen the physical body, especially the blood, as well as its strong intent that could be used to enhance his own. When Cleansed Asura had found the Drop of Wrath, his cultivation was way higher than Cao Yun's. As such, he never had any problem controlling it and never let it absorb any foreign energy. This was probably why he never perceived its true nature. This was also the reason why he had hesitated to give it to Cao Yun. For him, he was too weak to really master it. But Cao Yun was dying and Cleansed Asura would die himself very soon, so he had no choice if he were to find an heir.
When Cao Yun looked at the Drop of Wrath, it was peaceful, slowly digesting the Evil Qi contained within the blood runes. It was trying to recreate the six other parts of the Po. But it had no sentience and only mimicked what it had felt long ago. This made Cao Yun have an idea. He could use his own Po character to guide the Drop of Wrath. If he was able to insert a bit of his own Po inside the Drop of Wrath, it would become way more obedient.
To achieve such a result, he needed his mind cultivation to be way higher than it was right now. In fact, he probably needed to be at the third or even fourth layer of 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'. He wasn't sure of what those layers consisted of, but he knew that the first one would not cut it.
Anyway, now that he understood the Drop of Wrath better, he could more easily fight off its attempt to take over his body. In fact, if he had known that the Drop of Wrath would try to absorb the Evil Qi, he could have made preparations beforehand. And he also realized that the Drop of Wrath was not really trying to take over his body. The truth was that the rage from Axiu Qian was just washing over him. But it was so strong that it had the power to literally corrode and even wipe out his mind altogether. As long as it wasn't an intentional attempt, Cao Yun was pretty confident in his ability to win over it. But fighting it would put him at a disadvantage during a fight, just like it did.
Fortunately, the Drop of Wrath was calm for now. Cao Yun was still too weak to regain full consciousness. He had tried to go back within his body, but he did not manage to do so yet.
Then, he looked at the three stars in the sky. The Root Star had given him great benefits and the image of the dragon around the three stars was now a bit more material. Other than that, there was no change. His four characters did not change either. Using the slumber of the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun decided to train his Po character.
Despite cultivating this character, the Drop of Wrath was too busy to get agitated and Cao Yun finally reached True Success. When he did, his control over his own Qi got even better. And despite being unable to feel anything from his body, the sensation of the flow of Qi got back to him. Using this, he focused on circulating his Qi. This allowed his body to recover faster. Soon enough, he slowly regained sensations in his body. And in a few hours, he opened his eyes.
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Both Mei Ying and Huang Cixi were at his side. When he woke up, they got startled. Quickly, Huang Cixi went to fetch a pill left by Meng Jia. He had prepared it for when Cao Yun would wake up to help in his recovery. However, when she got back to her master, she realized that it wasn't a good thing to force-feed him just after his awakening.
"Older Brother? How are you?" Mei Ying was excited but also a bit concerned. A tiny tear was in her eye.
Cao Yun tried to sit up with much difficulty and Huang Cixi ran to give him a hand.
"Thank you, Mei Yuzhi." Then he turned toward the little girl. "Little Ying, do not worry. You should let your older brother worry about you, not the other way around." He stretched his hand and patted her head. "Did I stop you from training?"
Mei Ying was elated. "No, I've become much stronger. I could beat Luduo Bu alone!" She flexed her tiny muscles and smiled happily.
Then Cao Yun turned toward his servant. "Mei Yuzhi. I'm sorry. You got implicated because of me. I shouldn't have asked you to accompany me knowing Luduo Bu wanted to kill me." In fact, Cao Yun had heard the demonic cultivator Mo Zi claim that Luduo Bu would kill him during the second year. As such, he had thought that he was safe for the time being, especially within the sect.
"Young Master Chen, don't say such a thing. You almost died for me. I'm sorry to have been such a burden." Huang Cixi was sincere about this. Deep within her conscious, she did not know how to handle her conflicted emotions toward Cao Yun. Her desire to be close to him in order to find his weaknesses had backfired completely. Right now, she had found her own weakness.
"Young Master Chen, please take this pill. Instructor Meng refined it specifically for you after your awakening. It should be able to help you recover even faster." She handed over the small pill to Cao Yun.
The moment he touched the pill, he immediately smelled its medicinal essence. This pill should be at least a 5-star Human rank. It was even possible for it to touch upon the Spirit rank. Cao Yun was shocked. It was a real proof of both his instructor's talent and his care for him. During the lessons, Instructor Meng always seemed either sleepy or sleeping but Cao Yun had a very good impression of him. Apparently, the feeling was mutual. Cao Yun also remembered how he had acted during his contest with Mei Hua in the Wubei Merit Market.
Taking the pill, he felt its medicinal essence flow through his body. All trace of fatigue disappeared completely. The pill even helped his body produce a bit more blood. During his time in a coma, Cao Yun had recovered most of the blood he had lost though. And this blood was richer in Qi than before, thanks to the Drop of Wrath. This small pill was extraordinary and now that Cao Yun was conscious he could freely use his intent to drive the medicinal essence were he needed it.
The two girls decided to let him meditate in peace. Huang Cixi went into the kitchen to prepare something to eat. All the time he was in a coma, Cao Yun had been fed with liquids, so he would need to eat a real food right now. Mortal and even Mortal Warrior cultivators still needed to eat and drink, just like mere mortals. However, the higher their cultivation, the more time they could survive without either. This trend continued with Spirit Warriors who could survive weeks if not months without water and several years without eating, using Qi to nourish their body. Legends said that reaching the seventh realm of cultivation would make a cultivator impervious to both thirst and hunger. But these realms were now the stuff of legends because no one had crossed over the fourth realm for over fourteen thousand years.
Mei Ying decided instead to leave. She immediately went to find her older sister. When Mei Hua learned that Cao Yun was awake, she went to find Sun Liao and Ren Chao. After all, they were both worried about their friend. Hence, she thought they had to be there all together.
Finally, Cao Yun was done and he realized that he was in perfect health. In fact, he was even stronger than before. Looking inside his body, he found out that his lesser meridians were now half the size of his standard meridians. The only explanation was that Huang Cixi had used the Contrived Shell Balm on him. She had really taken good care of him. His Root Star had also improved a lot thanks to its use in an actual fight. Cao Yun felt as though it was even ready to give him the next variation of 'Dragon's Chest'.
First things first, however. He went to Huang Cixi.
"Mei Yuzhi, I didn't ask you, but how long have I been unconscious?"
Huang Cixi was a bit embarrassed by the question. In her mind, she remembered all the care she had to give Cao Yun. She had to bathe him for example. "It's been more than a month. Forty-seven days to be precise."
Taken aback, Cao Yun tried to rack his brain over what he had missed. "Then, did I lose my rank in the fighting scroll?" Indeed, Cao Yun had been unable to partake in the second round of the challenges. They were every other month. And if his calculations were right, he had missed it by a few days.
"Do not worry. Given your condition, it has been decided that all your challenges were pushed back to the next session of duels. And in fact, no one dared challenge you knowing that they would actually have to fight you..."
Huang Cixi put food on the table and Cao Yun kept asking her everything that had occurred during his coma while eating with her. She obviously talked about the disciplinary pavilion and this infuriated Cao Yun. The proofs were pretty clear and yet Chief Elder Bian would not change his mind on him.
As they were talking, a ruckus emerged outside. People were yelling and they recognized the voices. Cao Yun opened the door. As soon as he tried to put one foot outside, two staffs blocked his way. There were two disciples tasked with keeping him detained in his own chamber. In fact, there were three of them, but they had a rotation.
"Chen Guo. You're under house arrest. Go back inside." As one of the guards ordered him, Sun Liao interjected.
"Brother Chen, Brother Ren has gone missing. We went everywhere! Then we found Sister Wang..." The natural calm and arrogance of Sun Liao had completely gone away.
By his side, Wang Mei was also in a state of panic. "I tried to find him since this morning. I fear that..." She had her doubts about her own faction but just couldn't come to express them.
"Lu Meihan!" After Cao Yun's yell, Wang Mei nodded discreetly her head. No matter how much she did not want to admit it, she probably had something to do with it. Her last conversation with her was cryptic on the matter, to say the least.
"We should warn..." Before Mei Hua could finish her sentence, Cao Yun cut her off.
"No!" Thinking about it some more, he knew that the demonic cultivators were behind this. Most likely, they were using Ren Chao as a bait for him. Maybe they even watched him until he woke up to use the right timing. And the only way to know this kind of thing was by using the two guards before his door.
Cao Yun had a terrible impression of the disciplinary pavilion. As such, he immediately suspected them.