"What are you suggesting exactly? We barely know each other."

"I know, and yet you were ready to put your life in my hands and I was ready to risk mine for you. In this place no one will hear us, so let's be honest. It was obvious to me that you lied about your name. And you should guess that mine is also a fabrication. However, I won't ask you to reveal yourself because I don't intend to do the same. There are many reasons why I can't show my face to you or anyone else. That being said, I am absolutely sincere when it comes to protecting the people of our Hongchen Kingdom. If you are not convinced, I am ready to swear on my Dao Heart."

Strangely, Cao Yun had felt a familiarity with Yong Ke since the start. Even Hongyu had acted differently with her than with everyone else. And considering how she was talking, he was certain that the feeling was mutual. Besides, she did risk her life to protect him. Of course, he had been confident he could survive the fight and subdue the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish even without her help. But that counted for something.

To be fair, the main problem wasn't to form some kind of alliance against Gu Song with her. His main concern was that he wanted to get information about his real family from him. And he didn't want anyone else to know it, especially not someone who was related to the Imperial City.

"Sister Yong, let's drop the charade and let's be honest. I too have reasons not to tell my real identity and my real motive. However, I can tell you that I am the Young Sect Master of the Wubei Sect. But I do believe you discovered that from seeing my martial arts. And the reasons why I am after the demonic cultivator who hides in this Subei Province is very personal. There are things I wish to learn from him that I wouldn't like to be known by others."

Yong Ke stopped for a little while. She clearly noticed that Cao Yun wasn't lying when he said he was the Wubei Sect's Young Sect Master. But at the same time, he had told her he wouldn't give his real identity. Then it was obvious to her that Chen Guo wasn't his real name either. The mere fact that Cao Yun was letting her know of that meant that there was some level of trust there. Even with that knowledge, she would not be able to find out exactly who he was anyway.

"I indeed deduced who you were. If my guess is correct, you hid your identity in order to get closer to the alchemist who hides in Qingyun City. Unfortunately, I probably have less intel than you do. But what you just told isn't an issue. My priority is to get rid of the demonic cultivators. Besides, there is nothing he could tell that would be useful to me. I simply have a grudge with the Demon King and his subordinates. Unless you can get information on the Demon King that would help get rid of him, I don't care what you learn from the demonic cultivators in this province."

"Why are you so adamant about helping me?"

"The truth is that I won't be able to get rid of a Spirit Warrior by myself. My plan was to find as much as I could. Then, I wasn't entirely sure what my next move would be. But you clearly thought about it more than I did..."

For some moments, the both of them were silent.

Yong Ke had been impulsive in her decision to come to the Subei Province. But as soon as she had seen the opportunity to escape her bodyguards and chase the demonic cultivators, she had taken it. Now, she didn't want to go back without doing something about the situation. And she knew that if she called for help, she wouldn't be able to act on her own. But with Cao Yun, she might be able to make a difference.

"What's your current cultivation?"

"I reached 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior a few months ago. But my cultivation is still a bit shaking as I was forced to consume a lot of pills in order to heal from very serious injuries. In fact, even my mind suffered from injuries. Without my father, I would have died a few years back."

"The demonic cultivators attacked you?"

"They did... In an attempt to get to my father, they tried to kill me. I almost died and was terribly mutilated. With the care of my family, I've been able to heal from the most severe wounds. However, I still have stigmas of those attacks. Even now, I barely remember anything from my childhood because they tried to extract my very soul."

Then, it made sense for her to never let go of her weimao. Not only was it concealing her identity, it was also hiding her scars. More than that, she was probably still traumatized by someone invading her very soul and this weimao was protecting her from that, to an extent.

Despite the concealing power of her clothes, Yong Ke's voice contained a sincerity that was convincing to Cao Yun. That being said, it wasn't the same thing to believe her story and to trust her with the task ahead. Moreover, she was also related to the Imperial City so she could create more problems. And to be honest, Cao Yun was convinced his plan was good enough to take care of Gu Song and he seemed to know more about him than her. However, there was something in her story he couldn't ignore. Furthermore, any plan had to be adjusted. No matter how good his preparation was, he knew he would face unknown changes during the real application. Maybe unforeseen complications would arise...

"Sister Yong, I accept. I just need to give those documents back to the Huang family. Then, we will go to Qingyun City together. I have a friend there whom I trust with my life. Right now, I can't be certain, but under a few months, all my preparations should be ready. After that, I intend to confront Gu Song, the 4th-grade Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator I was after. He's the one who stole from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Although I am confident in my plans, taking on a Spirit Warrior is no easy task. Having the help of one more good fighter won't be a luxury."

"Brother Guai, you have my word. I swear on my Dao Heart that I will you support you in your campaign against the demonic cultivators!"

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Then, Yong Ke turned toward the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. And so did Cao Yun.

"Beast, I intend to slay the man who subjected you to those tortures. However, I will ask of you two things. The first one is that you don't leave this cave before I come back. It will be less than a year. That shouldn't be a problem. I will even arrange for someone to give you some food from time to time. And during that period, I will need to borrow some of your power. The array formations around here were already altered to hide your new allegiance. Your former master will be blind to the situation and he won't come for you before I am through with him, I am certain. In addition to them, I added several other array formations I will use in order to extract some of your strength. When the time comes, I only ask that you unleash all of your strength. Extend your shadow as much as you can and I will do the rest. If you can agree to those conditions, I will overlook all the people you've killed."

None of those conditions were a problem for the Soul-Sucking Catfish. Besides, it had already resigned itself to its fate. This new master seemed much more pleasant. And the prospect of killing its former master was making the demonic beast overjoyed. Of course, it was lacking the common sense of humans. However, it would have realized that Cao Yun was only a Mortal Warrior. Against a Spirit Warrior, he had almost no chance. But what the beast had lived in his sea of consciousness had also terrified it and convinced it that Cao Yun could.

-

Cao Yun did as he had told Yong Ke. He went back to the Huang family and gave Huang Si the documents that had been stolen by Di Xihe.

"Miss Huang, excuse my earlier outburst. The content of my spatial ring was extremely precious to me, on a sentimental level. I have wronged you. Soon, I will leave for the capital in order to pursue the goal I am set on. Although I might need the support of the Huang family from the shadows, I don't want anyone to know that I am actually affiliated with you. After all, once my identity is revealed, I don't want the Imperial City to know that the Huang family and the Wubei Sect are working so closely. And I do believe that the same is true of you and your matriarch."

"Of course. But Matriarch Huang Yufeng expressly asked me to be of help to your task. As much as we'll try to hide our involvement with you, if you need any help at all, we will be at your service."

Cao Yun had a hard time completely believing her. But she knew that she would indeed help him to an extent. However, Huang Si seemed to be a women who was just like Matriarch Huang Yufeng. She was serving her interests foremost. To be fair, Cao Yun couldn't blame her with that, as long as she was still honorable. He had not liked the fact that she had used him. But he could forget it if she could make up for it. A small part of the profits of the future mines would go directly to Cao Yun, and by extension to the Wubei Sect. This was also a way for the Young Sect Master to tighten the links between them.

Despite this new income, Cao Yun needed money right now. And he would soon run out of the money given to him by Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng. Even Hall Master Fang had given him money. His expenditures were just too high. And he had many more things to buy in order to create array formations and pills. Thankfully, he already had some ideas on how to gain enough money to cover all of his expenses.

After putting some order in his affairs with the Huang family, Cao Yun left with Yong Ke toward Qingyun City.

-

After her stay in the cave, nourished by the Hellish Dragon Fruit, Hongyu was now perfectly fine. Cao Yun still gave her another of his pills to make sure she wouldn't get weak on the way toward the capital of the Subei Province. During the flight, he would also check on her evil core from time to time. Obviously, he was also feeling what was going on in her slowly forming fifth core. Since it contained a lot of influence from the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun felt even more intimate with Hongyu. When they were flying, he almost had no order to give to direct her.

Even before getting inside the Subei Province, flying wasn't easy. There were many array formations in place in strategic places to prevent any random beast or cultivator from roaming freely. But as they got closer to the capital, the restrictions were stricter and stricter. As such, the journey was longer than what a demonic beast could really do. Most likely, these restrictions had been the doing of either humans from the Legendary Era or the demons who had conquered them, or maybe the two of them.

Indeed, controlling the air was primordial. However, getting rid of those restrictions was almost impossible during the Forsaken Dao Era. As such, everyone was subjected to them. And on top of those, even the current humans had placed Heaven array formations in key points of the Hongchen Kingdom. Obviously, it was to fight against the demons. If they could just fly above the kingdom when they wanted, it would be difficult to fight against them. And those array formations could only be bypassed by those who were allowed. Other array formations required the person to come down and ask for permission.

In the Subei Province, since it was so close to the border, the conditions were way more strict. And soon, Cao Yun would reach a purely no-fly zone. Even wild demonic beasts would be shot down from here on out. This area was the region around the capital. Because it needed to be protected by powerful array formations, most of the military strength of the Subei Province was concentrated in here. This wasn't optimal but building powerful and large array formations was not easy. As such, they couldn't build military bases everywhere.

Of course, there were other cities and other hidden bases, especially along the border. But the bulk of their military strength was gathered in a few strategic and heavily protected areas.

As an array formation master himself, Cao Yun was able to feel the pressure even before Hongyu. Looking from afar, he couldn't discern the entire array formation, but he could still see a few things. As of now, he remained a 5-star Earth array formation master. He could easily pass the test to officially become a Human array formation master, but he felt as though he had not advanced as much as in his alchemy. And when he looked at the area in front of him, he was convinced that he needed to study more. Although he had learned a lot from Dian Mo, some concepts were still abstruse.

Cao Yun looked at the area and tried to study as it might prove useful. In his mind, several Bamboo Maps were quickly formed. Some were only schematizing the mountains, the rivers and the trees. Others were giving more importance to the geological properties of the ground, studying the distribution of the plants for example. Some were very detailed and others much more simplistic. There was no right way to make a Bamboo Map, it depended on what one was looking for. For some array formations, the flow of water was the most important thing while others required to take into account the mountains above all else. Others required a more general approach as well.

By comparing all those Bamboo Maps, Cao Yun began to see how the array formation had been set up. Some mountains were being used instead of flags. Rivers had clearly been diverted to also be used in the array formation. In fact, many of the elements that appeared natural had been modified by man's hand to handcraft a very powerful and resilient array formation. It was no wonder they couldn't make too many of them all over the place...