Right now, Cao Yun was grabbing on Hongyu's feathers as she was flying through the sky. She was so fast, she had almost broken through the sound barrier. As such, the impact of the wind on both Hongyu and Cao Yun was absolutely insane. With their Wei Qi combined though, they were barely feeling it. Moreover, their bodies were clearly strong enough to resist such an impact. The winds were just as powerful as the eighth and last li of the Howling Crane Gorges.
Although the impact wasn't a problem, Cao Yun was still forced to grab onto Hongyu with a lot of force so that he wouldn't fall off. However, that didn't really bother her in the slightest.
That being said, the sensation was incredible for the both of them. Hongyu had never flown with such speed before because of her condition. And although Cao Yun had flown before, he had always been under someone else's control. Right now, he was able to lead his mount. It took a bit of time to get used to it, but by indicating to Hongyu where he wanted to go, she obeyed. In both of their veins, the intent of the Drop of Wrath was present. As such, they already had some kind of connection. And mere moments ago, Cao Yun had literally injected his own Qi into Hongyu's body to stabilize her.
Even now, he was injecting a bit of Qi in her body to monitor the evil core and see how it was reacting. Hongyu was letting Cao Yun's Qi enter her body without any resistance at all. The young man was neither a physician nor a beast tamer but he could tell that Hongyu was only using her three other demonic cores. The evil core was completely passive. Unlike Cao Yun, Hongyu could not learn complex techniques to control her own Qi. Indeed, demonic beasts were acting more on instinct. Contrary to humans, their cultivation was rather passive and even their form of Qi Manifestation was instinctive.
Despite Hongyu's clear intelligence, she was not to the level of complex and abstract thoughts that humans could have. But she was incredibly smart, especially for a 4-core demonic beast. She was probably not as smart as Elder Ying, but she was still young. With a few more years and maybe another core, she would reach that level of intelligence.
As they were flying through the sky, Cao Yun and Hongyu became more and more intimate between each other. They could sense the circulation of Qi between them. But their bodies were also close to one another. Hongyu was considering Cao Yun like a member of her family, maybe not her mother or father, but something like an older brother. And slowly, Cao Yun was also feeling the same thing. He had seen Huang'er and Feng'er die for that egg. He had already helped protect it with Feng Yingyue and, later, he had risked his life in the Yellow Death World to keep it safe. The egg, and now Hongyu, was a symbol of many things.
He was seeing some kind of connection to Feng Yingyue in her. Since he was harboring doubts over his real feelings, Hongyu's presence was appeasing as he remembered the good times he had spent with the young lady. He clearly had feelings for the alchemist. He just wasn't sure what they were exactly. After all, they had met in very particular circumstances. In fact, he wasn't sure what she was feeling toward him either. Maybe she had also been enthralled by the fact he had saved her life and was now regretting her impulsive actions.
Hongyu was also the symbol of something else. Cao Yun was seeing himself in her. Both her parents had given their lives to let her live. And they had died because of Cao Yun, because Can Mouye had been after him. Thus, he felt responsible for Hongyu as well. He had to keep her safe.
Now that he was analyzing the evil core while Hongyu was moving, he was certain of himself. Without regular surges of intent from the Drop of Wrath, she would slowly die away. Just to control the evil core, she would have to burn her prenatal Jing. Although he couldn't be sure of the time it would take, in a matter of years, if not months, she would have burned all her vitality and longevity away. However, Cao Yun knew of no method to duplicate the Drop of Wrath. He could send its intent in Hongyu but without the source of the intent, it would slowly fade away.
The only definitive solution would be to replace the entirety of the Evil Qi by pure Qi. However, this wasn't an easy process. Even a Spirit Warrior would have not been able to do such a thing. Cao Yun was not sure even Xiao Xuefeng would be able to do so. Only Cao Yun had such a good control over Evil Qi thanks to the Drop of Wrath. Without it, he was still rather good, and he was getting better. Thus, there was only one solution.
Cao Yun would have to stay rather close to Hongyu to keep supplying her with the intent of the Drop of Wrath while searching for ways to make it more permanent. At the same time, he would have to keep thinking of ways to get this evil core under control for good. If he could not replace it, maybe he could find a way to seal the Evil Qi. After all, the blood runes he had faced were ways to trap Evil Qi within blood to use it for various things. Maybe he could try to emulate it somehow. This would take some time but Cao Yun had already been working on seals, and what he was thinking about was also a form of seal.
While they were slowly getting to know each other better, Cao Yun and Hongyu were joined by Elder Ying and Huang Liyue. Elder Ying was currently the fastest demonic beast in the Hongchen Kingdom and Huang Liyue was an 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. Even if Hongyu was indeed fast, she was nowhere near their limit. Following her was very easy for them. In fact, Elder Ying began to match her speed and was flying right beside her. On the other hand, Huang Liyue was flying just above Cao Yun at all times.
After a bit of time, Hongyu began to copy Elder Ying's movements. The 9-core demonic beast was teaching her how to fly properly. Since then, she had never once reached such a speed. Thus, she had to adapt her flight. Obviously, she could have learned by practicing. But because she had no parents and because Elder Ying quite liked her, he decided to help her learn faster.
The group went toward the mountains so that they would not disturb anyone. For a few hours, Cao Yun was able to completely forget about his problems. He was soaring through the sky with Hongyu. They were completely free. Such a sensation was exhilarating. At the top of her speed, Hongyu was even able to break the speed barrier. A sonic boom echoed throughout the mountains. With Elder Ying present, no demonic beast would have dared to complain about it even though a few 6-core demonic beasts were not happy about the disturbance.
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When finally they got back to the stables, Cao Yun and Hongyu were literally moving as one. The two of them were able to anticipate what the other would do or wish. Even Huang Liyue was surprised by their symbiosis. Of course, she had to remember that Cao Yun had kept the egg in his own Wei Qi for almost an entire year.
"Well, it seems that you found a means of transportation. To be honest, we were not certain whether it would be a good idea to let Hongyu go with you considering her condition. But it looks like this is the opposite. She has to go with you."
"Indeed..."
Cao Yun was still stroking Hongyu's neck. Deep down though, he wasn't too thrilled about this. Because of him, both her parents had died, so he didn't want to put her in any more danger. On the other hand, Hongyu clearly wanted to stay with him. And more than that, he would have to stay with her to protect her health. With that in mind, he couldn't stay in the Huang residence until he found a solution for her. Considering the activity of the demons, war could erupt at any time, the Demon King could also act and the Imperial city as well. Time was not on Cao Yun's side. Thus, he had to go investigate and he would be forced to take Hongyu with him. Moreover, she would be a great help. It was just that Cao Yun was worried for her.
Feeling Cao Yun's concern for Hongyu, Elder Ying was now fully convinced he was worthy of having Hongyu with him. Otherwise, he would have done everything in his power to prevent Hongyu from leaving. Although he was not human, the Huang family really treated him as an elder. After all, he had grown up with Huang Yi.
After some moments though, Cao Yun was forced to leave Hongyu because Matriarch Huang was free to receive him.
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The Matriarch received Cao Yun as she would have received some important alchemist. Although Guai Mo was a young alchemist, maybe a bit impulsive since he had killed some people with poison, he was still a 1-star Human alchemist which was rather impressive for his age. With the Alchemy Conference on the horizon, it was obvious that such alchemists had to be treated well. Thanks to that treatment, Matriarch Huang was able to consolidate Cao Yun's secret identity. As soon as he would be out of the Huang residence, Cao Yun would receive several invitations from various families.
He would politely decline them all except a couple. Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang had invited him as well. Since he needed information for his investigation, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall would be a great ally. On the other hand, getting a bit closer to the Imperial City was also a very good idea. Each governor was chosen by the Imperial City. Thus, Governor Leng had necessarily some influence there and he might even know a few things. This visit would mostly be out of politeness because Cao Yun knew he would not get anything out of Governor Leng. However, he could plant some seeds for the future. Even if he might never use it, it was still some time well spent.
Matriarch Huang used her own spiritual senses to isolate herself with Cao Yun. She had recovered a bit from her recent failed breakthrough. Although she had not all her strength, she was still more powerful than anyone in Baziyun City and even the entire Wu Province. No one would be able to perceive anything she didn't want them to. In fact, she would be able to detect anyone who would try to eavesdrop on their conversation. And no one was stupid enough to do that...
"Matriarch, thank you for the pill you've given to Hongyu. You've saved her life."
"No need to thank me. You risked your life to protect her as you did to help Miss Huang Liyue. Besides, our Huang family could not let a fenghuang die. This would be an insult to our progenitor Ancestral Matriarch Huang Baifeng and her True Fiery Fenghuang. Our very blood would have not accepted it. And Elder Ying would have probably resented us as well... But you're not here to thank me. You've come because you want to ask me something."
"Indeed, Matriarch. I have come across some information that might shed light on what happened to my family. I still need to investigate a few things, but this information has to be verified and shared. Since Sect Leader Xuan formed an alliance with you, I thought you might also send it to him as well."
Cao Yun revealed most of what he had discovered. He had no real reason to hide anything to Matriarch Huang. He didn't trust her fully as he knew she would put her own family first. But there was nothing in there that he thought shouldn't be shared. Then, he came to the point he wanted to confirm.
"In light of those documents, there's a possibility that my mother might still be alive. So I wanted you to confirm it. With your spiritual senses, you could easy analyze the content of their tomb to be sure."
Huang Liyue and Huang Yufeng understood Cao Yun's desire to imagine that his mother was still alive. However, they had already analyzed each body. Yes, there were some bodies that were difficult to identify. In fact, Cao Yun was almost identified within the victims at some point. Sadly, Cao Shui's corpse was very clearly hers. She had been beheaded with a single move.
Matriarch Huang hesitated for an instant but then she resolved herself and asked Huang Liyue to do what had to be done. In Cao Yun's mind, the images of the corpses laid on the ground were sent. Huang Liyue had been there when the corpses had been retrieved. It took several days to be sure that everything was found. Some parts of the bodies had been devoured, so they couldn't be retrieved. But everything else was now under Cao Yun's eyes. He recognized his older brother Cao Sheng, his great-grandfather Cao Beiwen, his parents Cao Guang and Cao Shui as well as many others. More than half of the Cao family members were not recognizable though. That being said, the count was correct. All the people present at Cao Beiwen's birthday celebration were there except for him.
He couldn't recognize them all though, some had even lost their heads and huge chunks of their torsos. However, he forced himself to watch in order to try and find anything that could create a doubt in his mind. In particular, he spent some time on Cao Huiying's body. She had been slashed in several pieces and a few of them were missing. She had no head, but Cao Yun was almost certain he had recognized her hand. Most injuries had thankfully been post-mortem.
Of course, this vision took a huge toll on Cao Yun. But this was necessary. Matriarch Huang knew that seeing was believing. If she had not seen her son's body, she would never have fully believed he was dead. Although she had sensed his death before she had seen him, she only believed he was dead afterward. In fact, it took a few days for her to fully accept it.
Since they would not dig up the corpses, the next best thing was for Huang Liyue to share her memories with Cao Yun. This was brutal but in the long run, this was the best thing to do for the young man.