As Cao Yun was lost in a world of pure darkness, Mo Zi and Wang Jinhua were surrounded by the void. It was impossible to describe this feeling. What their eyes could see was only darkness because it was devoid of anything and did not even reflect light. But their Mortal Warrior senses were telling them that this darkness was the most terrible thing ever. If they were to touch it, they would be utterly destroyed all the way to their souls.
Both of them had pushed their Wei Qi to the limit and all their blood runes were spiraling around them to provide some form of cover as well. They knew that this wouldn't last very long, if at all. But they were truly desperate.
"Brother, can't you think of something?!"
"Let me concentrate! My master knew that this kind of accident could happen."
From his spatial ring, Mo Zi took a metallic plate. Immediately, Wang Jinhua recognized what this was. Such an object was an array formation plate. A master could inscribe an array formation on it and then anyone would be able to activate it by injecting some Qi inside. Although she had no idea what kind of array formation this was, she knew that it had to be powerful because it had been gifted to Mo Zi by his master.
"Keep up your Wei Qi!"
As he spoke, Mo Zi retracted all his Wei Qi and his blood runes to pour every bit of strength he had in the plate. Although she had been warned, Wang Jinhua only had an instant to react and was almost crushed when the pressure increased. Several of her blood runes got swallowed by the void around them. But she still pushed through and squeezed as much energy as she could from herself.
She went so far that some of her own Evil Qi began to spread through her flesh. Thankfully, it was nothing too serious for now. But she wouldn't last long. Right now, she had not even enough strength to look toward her brother or talk. Hopefully, he would be done soon.
And he was!
From the plate, a giant lotus began to bloom. It was ethereal and completely surrounded Wang Jinhua and Mo Zi. As soon as the pressure was lifted, the young woman collapsed on the ground. Everything around them was gone. Thankfully, they had been able to trap some air around them. So they could still live some time. But if Mo Zi did not find a way out, they would ultimately die in there. Then, the mission would be a total failure. Mo Zi was the only one who could truly accomplish it. Everyone could be replaced but him. That was even why his master had protected him so much the previous year.
Looking around, Mo Zi saw Wang Jinhua who was completely spent. The poor woman was now trying to get her Evil Qi under control. If she were to fail, she would die a miserable death. But even if she succeeded, she had little hope to survive. She could not just try to survive alone, because if Mo Zi died and the mission failed, her masters would kill her in the most horrendous ways. As such, she had to prioritize Mo Zi's life even before hers. In fact, Mo Tian had placed seals in the nineteen cultivators so that they would suffer and ultimately die if they went against Mo Zi's orders.
Unfortunately she had no way of helping at all. Everything was in the hands of Mo Zi right now. He was the only one who could come up with something to get them out of this situation.
"I have an idea but it has very few chances of success..."
Looking down toward Wang Jinhua, Mo Zi's face was truly desperate. For the first time, he was faced with complete death. In the void, even their souls would be extinguished. Well, at least it would be faster than being killed by their masters.
"If I can create some connection with our brothers and sisters, I should be able to stir us in the right direction. This place is kind of like an ocean in which each realm is drifting around. If I can establish a link, it can act as an tether. Hopefully, we can then ride this tether and enter their own realms. After that, we just have to make sure the Wubei disciple in that realm is dealt with and we can proceed forward.
"Of course, it's not as easy as that. Moving around in the void doesn't even make sense to begin with. The void is deprived of the very concept of space itself. But as long as the Absolute Haven Lotus array formation endures, space inside and around still holds meaning. Hopefully, it will be good enough.
"But then, we'll also have to pierce through the veil encapsulating the realm we find. And I don't know what would happen with the void all around it... Besides, we'll need to push our blood runes to their limits to try and establish a connection with our brethren."
Hearing the last part, Wang Jinhua's heart skipped a beat. If she pushed her blood runes to the limit, she might very well die. Even if she didn't, she would end up extremely wounded. And she wasn't certain what kind of sympathy she would get from her brothers and sisters. However, she had no alternative. Either she would die here, or she would risk it to maybe be betrayed by her own. Hopefully, Mo Zi would remember her dedication and would protect her despite her critical condition...
"Sister, are you ready?"
Mo Zi had obviously taken her help for granted. After all, if she didn't help, she would die. In fact, her seals would activate and she would die right away, in agonizing pain. Moreover, Mo Zi would still be able to use her blood runes without her. That would put more strain on him but he could probably bear it.
Without any real choice, she barely nodded. Then, Mo Zi's blood runes flew all over the place to form some kind of array formation. And Wang Jinhua followed the instructions from her senior to complete this complex formation.
-
Cao Yun had now fully entered the Palace of Supreme Wisdom Mo Zi was desperate to get into. On the other hand, Cao Yun had been extremely reluctant to enter this place. However, he had deduced that his options were too limited.
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He could not be sure whether Dian Mo had truly believed his story. And even if he had, this wouldn't prevent him from killing him anyway.
Within the palace, everything was plunged into deep darkness. Even inside, Cao Yun was unable to sense anything. The only thing he could perceive was the voice of the Palace Spirit.
"Young Chen, as I said, you're still way too weak to receive my treasure. But I can palliate this. However, contrary to the tests conjured up for the other humans, the realms I have in mind for you may truly kill you. Please, do not disappoint me. If you survive those tests, you'll be strong enough to wield my treasures. And if you do, there is no human on this miserable world that won't kneel before you. Everything will be under your command. I hope you are ready. But for those tests, it's better if your belongings stay in here."
Before he could answer, Cao Yun felt a strong force all around his body. It was very similar to what the Supreme emblem could do, but it was not coming from it. In fact, it was coming from the darkness around him. This answered Cao Yun's question. If he had stayed outside, the Palace Spirit would have been unable to transport him. He had probably altered the Supreme emblem a little to get him in front of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. But this wasn't something he could easily replicate.
With his powerful mind, Cao Yun was gathering any piece of information that may later prove useful. Even the words and the intonations of Dian Mo were full of small details awaiting to be exploited.
When Cao Yun finally appeared in another realm, he realized that he had nothing on him, not even his clothes. The Palace Spirit had only transported his body, nothing else. Thus he had no weapon of any kind, no pill and no spirit stone. Everything was probably back inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Thus, one way or another he would have to get back inside.
And this realm was also very different from the realms Cao Yun had been to before. The air itself seemed to be brutal. And he quickly understood why. There was the taste of iron and the thick odor of blood in it. When he looked down, it became quite obvious. Cao Yun was knee deep in a pool of blood. This entire realm was covered in blood and corpses. The sky itself was orange because of all the blood in the air.
"You have to survive two months in this realm. Here blood reigns supreme. You have no weapon and no tool. Use your own strength. Unleash your savagery. No matter what happens, I will not take you out before two months are gone. And the beasts will never tire. Prove yourself!"
Once the Palace Spirit was done speaking, Cao Yun heard a great commotion in the distance. Looking toward it, he saw thousands upon thousands of beasts wrestling. It was almost impossible to distinguish them all. Fur, scales, feathers, all were intertwined in a savage and bloody brawl. Every beast was covered in blood as they were slaughtering the others. Despite everything he had read, Cao Yun was unable to recognize a single creature. There were things looking like giant black wolves with blood-injected eyes and terrifying fangs and claws. In the sky, there were also horrifying eagles and vultures. Sometimes they would come down to partake in the massacre. While at other times, they would just scavenge what flesh remained on the corpses.
This place was truly hell. It was pure savagery never ending. Moreover, the sheer amount of beasts was incredible. And from what Cao Yun could see, they were all as strong as a late Mortal. Individually, they were thus all weaker than Cao Yun. The only problem was that there were thousands and thousands of beasts. And somehow, he had to face them all and survive for two whole months.
But after thinking about it, this was perfect for his 'Cultivation of Wrath'. It had been a very long time since he had bathed in the blood of demonic beasts. Right now, he wasn't even sure whether those beasts were really demonic beasts or something else entirely. But he was certain that their blood would be very beneficial to his cultivation. He had recently crossed into the 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior realm and he still wanted to strengthen his two Earthly Springs and his two Labor Palaces. Furthermore, he had to begin the tempering of the Gate of the Hundred Convergences. Once all Five Prodigious Gates would be open, he would have to temper them even more in the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior stage.
With this blood, he could begin to temper the first four gates while trying to open the fifth one. However, he could not overdo it. Indeed, the main goal of the 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior was to harmonize all five gates and make them act as one. If he tempered the four lower gates too much without the Bai Hui, it would become a problem in the near future.
That being said, he could also use the blood to strengthen his overall body and maybe even his blood cultivation. Besides, if his blood cultivation improved, it would be also a good way to deceive the Palace Spirit. Cao Yun was still unsure of what his goal was, but he had a hard time believing an entity created by the Demon God Da Mo would just help someone else, even a fellow demon, out of the goodness of his heart. And he had many ideas on what its ulterior motives were. However, Cao Yun's goal was clear. He had to get this treasure and, more than everything else, prevent the demonic cultivators from taking it.
Thus, he could use this place to become even stronger for his upcoming fight. As he was thinking of a plan, the beasts were now all around him. Even though they were not targeting him in particular, he was still in danger. All of them were feral and tried to kill everything and everyone around them.
Taking a deep breath, Cao Yun pushed everything else aside. In his sea of cultivation, the figure of the red demon appeared again and everything turned red. Then, he began to chant the mantra of the 'Cultivation of Wrath' and focused his intent on the 'Dance of Slaughter'. Before being a martial art, this was a punching routine meant to cultivate the body through blood. It was perfect for this place.
With this mindset, Cao Yun discarded every other thought, he turned into a beast himself. Faced with so much savagery, a civilized man could not do anything. To survive, Cao Yun had to kill the beasts. He could not wait idly by for them to kill each other and thin their own ranks. Willing or not, ready or not, he had to fight to survive.
With no time to waste, Cao Yun became one of the beasts. Pushing his determination and will to fight to the paroxysm, he ran straight into the melee. The other beasts were already so enthralled in their massacre that they did not even notice the coming of the little human. Those creatures were all four or five times taller than Cao Yun, so in their eyes he was nothing.
As soon as he got close enough, he began to act.
'Cutting the Retreat'!
His speed suddenly increased and he found himself between two giant black wolves.
'Annihilating the Horses'!
With a kick, he broke the front leg of one of them. Immediately, the other wolf pounced on the weakened opponent and tore apart his throat with his fangs. Below the two of them, Cao Yun was already covered in thick blood. Immediately, he could feel a powerful heat seeping through his muscles. Their blood was beyond anything he had encountered until now.
'Dyeing the Ground'!
As the two wolves were killing each other, Cao Yun stabbed toward the heart of the one who was devouring the other's throat. He pierced through him all the way to his own shoulder. Finally, he reached his heart and crushed it inside his chest.