Can Mouye was very close to them. Since he had been forced to abandon his demonic beast, he was now running through the woods. But thanks to his keener senses, he had been able to detect the two of them with no problem at all. And he was not taking any chances. His first attack was a killing move.

He knew his master well enough to be sure that he would pay for his mistake. Xiong Nixie had helped him tame that demonic beast. And because Can Mouye had not been able to restrain it, it had devoured too many cultivators and too many demonic cores. Now that it had broken through, he wasn't sure whether he would be able to control it. In the end, he would probably be forced to ask for his master's help and he would pay for that dearly.

Sadly, Can Mouye was used to the tortures and the training from his master. In a way, they were almost the same thing. Xiong Nixie did not really care for the lives of his disciples. Can Mouye, like others, had been a simple mortal. When demonic cultivators slaughtered his family, he was still just a child. And like many other orphans abducted by the demonic cultivators, they trained them by forcing them to slaughter each other. Only those who survived were taught. And even teaching implied more pain and more killing.

Still, even surviving the slaughters was not enough to stay alive. Slowly, Can Mouye adapted. He forgot almost all of his normal human emotions and learned to read those of others. The only way to really survive was to adapt. Xiong Nixie often tried out his new theories on his own disciples. The ones who did not show enough potential or talent were the first victims of his ideas. Most of them did not work out how he wanted. And even the lucky ones who survived those ordeals were not out of harm's way. Indeed, Xiong Nixie sometimes killed them just to examine their bodies and understand what had happened precisely.

To survive in such an environment, the best way was to sacrifice others and plot against his own 'friends'. A long time ago, Can Mouye had lost any form of compassion, however he had a great empathy. He was able to determine the feelings and the true personality of anyone just by observing them for a very short time. This had helped him a lot in order to manipulate his master into choosing others for his experiments. Finally, he had been able to reach the doorstep of the Spirit Warrior realm.

If Xiong Nixie could boast having raised a disciple who had reached the Spirit Warrior realm, this would be a great way to try and curry favors from the Demon King. As such, Xiong Nixie would want to keep him alive, just out of spite for Mo Tian. But Can Mouye knew his master well enough to know that he was seldom acting out of reason. In a fit of rage, he could very well kill him and then regret it later. Right now, his best shot was to kill Cao Yun and bring his corpse with him. Then, the failure to keep a tight leash on his demonic beast could be forgotten with just a punishment. He would probably have to suffer thousands of lashes, but he could survive that.

The moment Can Mouye sensed Cao Yun and Huang'er, he did not hesitate at all. He activated another martial art. 'Tianfomo's Compassion', 'Shadow Heart Palm'. Like many demonic cultivators, he was keeping a portion of Evil Qi in him. This was way more dangerous than Qi because it could corrode everything. Even for demonic cultivators, it was difficult to control it. But Can Mouye was a bit different. Unlike other demonic cultivators, he had no problem keeping his mind clear. The reason was simple enough. Can Mouye had no more human emotions. In fact, he was just trying to stay alive and had no ambition or desire of any kind. In a way, he was not even alive anymore. He was just going through the motion.

But thanks to that hollowness in him, he was able to manipulate Evil Qi almost as well as regular Qi, which allowed him to keep a great reserve of it in his own Middle Dantian, near his heart. Then, by mixing it with his own blood, he was able to activate a powerful martial art, 'Tianfomo's Compassion'. 'Shadow Heart Palm' was a technique designed to kill any living thing on its way. From Can Mouye's palm, a black flame appeared and flew outward. As it was concentrated Evil Qi, it could corrode almost anything. Moreover, it was incredibly fast.

-

Cao Yun saw this black flame going straight for him. With his speed, he could probably dodge it. But Huang'er was way too weak to move that fast. And Cao Yun was not sure whether he would be able to push her out of harm's way in time.

Pushing his body once more, Cao Yun activated the Heart Star. 'The Son of Heaven's Cavalry'. In this attack, Cao Yun sent a lot of Qi and focused all of his mind cultivation. The black flame in the shape of a palm collided with the tip of 'Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'. A howling sound like Cao Yun had never heard before echoed throughout the woods. He felt the influence of the Evil Qi corrode his own technique. Then, the Drop of Wrath activated once more. The Evil Qi contained within the palm spiraled out of it and coiled around Cao Yun's spear.

With impressive speed, it flew into his acupoints and traveled through his meridians into his heart. The Drop of Wrath was once more absorbing Evil Qi. Fortunately, Can Mouye was too far to control the Qi contained in this palm. Otherwise, even the Drop of Wrath could not have cut off the connection between a middle Mortal Warrior and his own Qi.

Thanks to that absorption, the technique from Can Mouye decreased in strength enough for Cao Yun to divert it away. However, he had used a huge part of his stamina. Besides, the attack meant that Can Mouye was getting dangerously close. Even as a middle Mortal Warrior, he could not attack from a huge distance. As such, he was likely to reach them in a matter of minutes.

Cao Yun could probably get away by using his stealth, but Huang'er would then be left to die. On the side, Huang'er felt the dilemma of the human boy. Despite all his efforts, Huang'er could feel that she was still extremely weak. She knew that she was not long for this world. The human boy had tried everything and once again, he had put his life on the line to protect her. However, she had made peace with the situation. Since the last time she had seen the boy, he had grown incredibly strong. As a human, he probably had many ways to evade their hunter, but she had none.

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If they stayed together, not only would they both die, but so would the egg. Huang'er looked at the egg she cherished. Her mate had already been killed and devoured by that monstrosity back then. And her fate was not going to be any better. But without Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue, they would have all died more than a year ago. Although her life was doomed, she knew that the boy would protect her egg.

The stronger demonic beasts were, the harder it was for them to procreate. After several decades, the Mountain Fenghuang couple had been able to conceive a child. And she was not ready to let it die before it could even breathe fresh air.

Huang'er let out a painful groan as she stood up straight. In her beak, she took the egg and handed it over to Cao Yun. Of course, the boy could not know what she was saying or thinking, but he understood her behavior well enough to know what she meant. Seeing her eyes, he remembered the light he had seen in his parents' eyes, right before they died.

"Huang'er, no! I won't leave you here to die!"

Despite the short amount of time he had spent with the Mountain Fenghuangs, Cao Yun had taken a great liking to them. After all, he had met them when they were trying to protect their egg while he had just lost his family. Besides, they also reminded him of his encounter with Feng Yingyue. And now, he could see his own mother in Huang'er's eyes. Leaving her would be like abandoning his mother another time.

However, the mother would have none of that. She focused all of her energy and roared as loudly as she could. Suddenly, she opened her wings as wide as possible, despite the pain.

"No!"

Cao Yun tried to rush and stop her, but he was too late. With a powerful blast of wind, she flapped her wings and rose high in the sky. She was so weak that just this would probably inflict so much damage that she would never recover. Of course, she did not mind because she had no intention of surviving what was about to come. On the ground, Cao Yun was watching her figure slowly vanishing in the distance, toward the direction of the previous attack. He knew what she was planning. For an instant, he was ready to follow her.

Sensing the egg shake in his hands, Cao Yun stopped himself. Back then, his parents had died to help him. And in the end, he could not even protect his powerless little sister. Right now, the Mountain Fenghuang had both showed the same determination to let their child survive. And this time, Cao Yun would make sure that this would happen. He would protect this egg with his life. Besides, he could not die here either. He had still a promise to keep to his parents.

"Do not throw away your life. Live!"

Those words echoed in Cao Yun's mind.

Just after that, he felt a throbbing pain in his heart. The Drop of Wrath had absorbed too much Evil Qi with the last attack. It was more than it could absorb in one go. As such, the remaining Evil Qi was still agglutinated around his heart. Thankfully, the Drop of Wrath was exerting some kind of attraction on it, but it was still incredibly dangerous. However the Drop of Wrath had also become a bit stronger. Strangely though, it wasn't as effective as the blood runes he had absorbed from Luduo Bu. Most likely, it was due not to the Evil Qi but to the blood itself, or maybe the special mixture of the two together.

Anyway, with this small increase in power, Cao Yun could feel the sensation he had felt earlier more clearly. There was no doubt whatsoever. That sensation was from Cleansed Asura and it was incredibly close. Last time he had met Cleansed Asura, he had been able to save his life. Maybe he could find a way to help Huang'er. Cleansed Asura should have fallen into a deep slumber after gifting the Drop of Wrath, but Cao Yun decided to cling to this unrealistic hope.

Thus, he ran toward the sensation. Moreover, it was in the direction of Baziyun City. In the worst case scenario, he could still try to reach the city and ask for help. Despite his anxiety about going back to the city where his entire family had been slaughtered and buried, he had known for a long time that he would have to someday. The day would be sooner than he expected, but that wasn't a problem. And the stress was taking over his anxiety anyway.

-

While Cao Yun was running with the egg in the hope of finding a way to save Huang'er, she was flying at full speed toward Can Mouye. As a 3-core demonic beast, she was just as strong as a 9th-grade Mortal. By pushing herself to the limit, she could maybe compare with a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior who wasn't too strong. But just like Mortals, she had nothing similar to a Qi Manifestation. On the other hand, her opponent was a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior. She had no hope of winning. Right now, she only wished to delay him as much as she could.

With his senses, Can Mouye saw her arrive way before she could see him, even with her bird's eyes. Immediately, he saw that Cao Yun was not with her. This was just a loss of time.

'Thorny Embrace'.

With a powerful wrist movement, he cracked his whip in the air. A vague form appeared out of thin air and prolonged the physical whip. It extended all the way toward the sky. Before she could react, Huang'er was completely constricted by the black shape. Then, thorns appeared all over the Qi Manifestation. Once more, Huang'er felt Evil Qi seeping through her. But this time, it immediately went into her organs. In less than a breath, she was dead. Her heart literally exploded in her chest.

The Qi Manifestation disappeared and the bloody body of the once magnificent beast fell down. With an incredible violence, her broken body crashed on the ground, completely opening her up.

As a beast tamer, Can Mouye was always interested in collecting materials from demonic beasts. For him, this was even more important than for other cultivators. Moreover, he could always find ways to use the materials efficiently. Since he was extremely close to reaching the Spirit Warrior realm, he could not let those demonic cores go to waste. But because he had no time to lose, he spread his Qi over Huang'er's corpse and swallowed it whole in his spatial ring.

Her sacrifice had amounted to almost nothing at all. Instead, she had maybe even helped Can Mouye. Anyway, he would have gotten her body even she had tried to escape. And she had lifted a burden off Cao Yun's shoulders. In death, Huang'er was convinced that the boy would be able to save her egg. It was the only thought that let her face her death without any regret. However, she had a lot of resentment. And Evil Qi was starting to gather inside her own demonic cores.

Can Mouye had not lost more than a minute killing Huang'er and collecting her body.

On the other hand, Cao Yun was pushing his Heart Star to the limit. His Qi was flowing eight times faster than usual in his meridians, especially in his legs. Besides that, he had also activated the intent of the Drop of Wrath as much as he could to strengthen his leg muscles. His sprint was properly incredible. He could have literally ran through the trees without much problem, but his senses were so good he was able to react fast enough. And with his knowledge of those woods, he was following the best path possible.

Unfortunately, as a beast tamer, Can Mouye was also very competent when it came to orientate himself in the wild. Although he wasn't as familiar with those woods as Cao Yun, he was not hindered much in his hunt.