Amidst this chaotic scenery where hurricanes and whirlwinds were scarring Cao Yun's bloodied sea of consciousness, the Flying Poison had two of its claws deep in Gu Song's back. They had sunk into his Soul Embryo, the outer shell in which he was protecting his very soul. Without any delay, Gu Song's scythe sliced the beast in two. The weapon went through its body. When it came out, it was covered in blood that was quickly vaporized by the blue flame, same blue flame that was now devouring the Flying Poison from within.
As if the wound didn't exist, the Flying Poison kept on attacking, its four other arms were ripping, tearing, slashing, gouging. Although there was no blood as Gu Song was just a soul now, the scene was extremely brutal. At the same time, Gu Song wouldn't go down without a fight. As his Soul Embryo protecting his soul was so attacked, he kept on slashing the beast, hoping to cut it down. But no matter how much he struck, the creature's blood would reform its shape.
All over the Flying Poison, there were now blue flames slowly devouring it. Yet, it kept on unleashing its wrath on Gu Song. There would be no respite. Because they were locked in such a close-quarters combat, there was no fancy move and no technique. The Flying Poison was mindless and Gu Song had not even one breath to think. This would be a battle of attrition and a test for their wills.
Down below, Cao Yun was observing as they were butchering each other. Even Dian Mo was captivated by that scene. The brute strength and raw hatred of the Flying Poison was laid bare for all to see. Against that, Gu Song seemed to have almost no chance at all. He had to put some distance between them. But even now, he had failed to realize that the bloody creature in front of him was not Cao Yun at all. But then again, he would have never imagined that Cao Yun had the remnants of a past demon within his sea of consciousness...
As the two of them were destroying each other, Cao Yun's sea of consciousness had also become absolutely chaotic. Even with his mind cultivation, it would take some time to calm everything down. Thankfully, his Nine Soul Peaks had stood firm. And his greatest weapon was unaffected, the Drop of Wrath. Right now, the young man was waiting for the perfect moment to act. Until now, Gu Song's soul had not been directly injured. In fact, it had only been exposed once as it was deep within his Soul Embryo. Cao Yun had to wait for his Soul Embryo to be so heavily damaged that he couldn't resist at all.
On the other hand, he had to be careful so that the Flying Poison wasn't too strong either. Although it didn't react to its own injuries, Cao Yun could feel that it was indeed getting weaker. After all, Cao Yun was linked to the Drop of Wrath and was slowly taking it over. With each injury the Flying Poison sustained, Cao Yun felt its grip on Axiu Qian's blood lessen. Of course, the beast would not go down fighting Gu Song. That would just be too sad for the very last vestige of Axiu Qian's soul to end in such a manner. Besides, Cao Yun had another plan for it.
-
Outside of Cao Yun's sea of consciousness, his body was now sitting cross-legged in Gu Song's laboratory. The body of Gu Song was still covered in the Black Heart Flame with golden chains stabbed deep in his Lower Dantian, Middle Dantian and now even Upper Dantian. Without his soul in it, the body was dead but it was still incredibly sturdy as it was the body of a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. The shadow of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was now gone as there was no more soul to extract from him.
In the room, the lingering Death Energy was spiraling around Cao Yun. Even if he was not trying to attract it, his use of 'Death Verses' to protect his Five Agents was naturally doing it for him. On the other hand, the Ghost Energy was barely moving. Those two energies were quite similar but still different, just like the corporeal soul and the ethereal soul. Anyone seeing this would naturally think that Cao Yun was a demonic cultivator. He had unleashed poison, black flames fueled by tortured souls, and was now sucking in Death Energy while being unaffected by Ghost Energy as well.
General Yun could see that the Xue family had almost taken down the array formations trapping them in their own residence. Hopefully Cao Yun was almost done. Knowing that the boy had an incredible stealth technique, the best outcome would be for him to escape without being detected. Amidst all the confusion, it was absolutely possible. But he was still ready for the worst possible outcome. He had promised Cao Yun to at least prevent his death. Even if he was captured, he had to make sure he would have enough time to explain himself. If everything he had told him was true, he should now have the means to prove it. After all, if he had attacked the Xue residence in such a manner, it was to take down Gu Song.
Unsure whether Cao Yun had succeeded or not, General Yun was also ready to fight against a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior if need be. Demonic cultivators could be difficult to deal with as they could use Evil Qi that was so corrosive. Besides, as an alchemist, Gu Song could certainly unleash terrifying poisons. Deep down, General Yun didn't know how a boy like Cao Yun could defeat him, but seeing that he had indeed taken over the Xue family's array formations, he had way more confidence in him now.
Besides the forces of General Yun and the men of the Governor, almost all the other families were now surrounding the residence. General Yun had made sure that his men and the families who had joined him were the closest to it. Once the barriers would fall, the Xue family would react fast. Without the array formations to protect him, Cao Yun's position would be easily found out if he had not ended Gu Song yet.
The invisible walls of the array formations faltered. For mere mortals, the walls were indeed invisible, but for Mortal Warriors and anyone who could see Qi, they were made of vibrant light. But cracks had appeared in very specific places. Suddenly, the cracks spread everywhere all at once. In an instant, a loud boom resounded throughout the capital and the dome of Qi came crashing down. Before it could reach the ground, the Qi simply dispersed in the air. All the soldiers around the residence felt a wave of raw energy pass through them. As they were ready for it, they didn't budge though.
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In the Xue residence, a few pillars were split apart. Some might have thought those were just decorations, but they were in fact cornerstones of their main defensive array formation. As the array formation had fallen, so had the pillars. At that moment, General Yun's grip on his spear got firmer. Knowing where Cao Yun was supposed to be, he sent his spiritual senses in that very direction, trying to avoid being detected by the strongest Spirit Warriors. On the other hand, Xue Liu spread his own spiritual senses in the direction of Xue Rui's chambers where he had heard his scream.
Xue Liu only found two corpses, Xue Rui's servant Zhong Ling and his concubine Qiang Zilan. No, the servant wasn't quite dead yet, she was still breathing but her eyes were open and devoid of life. Then, he felt a somber energy in the room. In the middle of the room, there was some scorched marks and they were radiating Death Energy. This kind of energy was extremely rare in the Hongchen Kingdom. But Xue Liu was now certain that a demonic cultivator was behind all of it. Even if his junior had not been a member of the Wubei Sect, he would have heard about what had happened there. If the Wubei Sect had been infiltrated by demonic cultivator, Xue Liu was not arrogant enough to pretend his own house was safe.
Although Xue Rui was not as talented as his older brother, he was still an important member of their younger generation. Hopefully he wasn't dead already. Xue Liu lost no time and tried to track the lingering Death Energy. It lead him directly to the alchemy pavilion where Xue Rui's master was staying. Suddenly, an ominous feeling overtook the patriarch. And in that moment, he finally sensed his rival's spiritual senses.
On his end, General Yun had immediately found where Cao Yun was. As the main array formation had collapsed, the shockwave had made all the other ones very unstable. Thus, he was able to see through the protections of Gu Song's laboratory. There was an abundance of Death Energy and Ghost Energy. Those could not naturally appear in this environment. As such, it was clear that Gu Song had specifically cultivated them. In fact, now that the protections were gone, the Ghost Energy was slowly being purified by the surrounding world. The very light and warmth of the sun were enough to purify this amount of Ghost Energy. On the other hand, General Yun sensed that Death Energy was being coalesced around Cao Yun.
If he had not been in the know, General Yun would have thought Cao Yun was the demonic cultivator. Thankfully, he knew better. Now, he had to make sure that Cao Yun was safe and that Xue Liu didn't see him like that. He had to stall for time just as he felt the spiritual senses of his great rival.
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Finally the moment had come, Cao Yun could feel that the Flying Poison was at its weakest and Gu Song's soul was completely exposed. Most of his Soul Embryo had been destroyed or even devoured by the enraged creature. Although he couldn't see what was happening outside, Cao Yun knew he had to be as fast as possible. Even General Yun would not be able to keep Patriarch Xue in check for long. First of all, they had the same cultivation even if General Yun had more experience actually fighting battles. But more than that, Patriarch Xue would be enraged. There was no doubt in Cao Yun's mind that he would try to kill him on sight. After all, his junior had been burned body and soul.
"Now, boy! What are you waiting for?!"
Dian Mo was just as anxious as Cao Yun, but he was a bit more vocal about it. However, Cao Yun still didn't act. The two desperate fighters were still engaged in their mutual destruction. Now, Cao Yun was mostly focused on the Drop of Wrath. He could feel things that Dian Mo couldn't. And right now, he was waiting for the perfect moment to take care of the Flying Poison.
His mind cultivation circulated to its fullest. All of his nine Upper Dantian chambers were pushed to the limit as his Chamber of Mysterious Elixir was energized. His Five Agents were also activated. And so were the Nine Soul Peaks. Even the green vines on those stone pillars were emitting a bright green light. Everything was ready for Cao Yun's next move. His fight against Gu Song had been difficult and he could have died several times, but now, it was the last step. If he failed now, everything would have been for naught. However, his enemy was not Gu Song anymore, it was the remnant of Axiu Qiang's wrath.
The surface of the Drop of Wrath began to vibrate, some ripples appeared on it. Cao Yun's influence over the drop of blood had reached its highest point as the Flying Poison had exhausted a large part of its strength.
Gu Song's Soul Embryo was too weak to protect his soul within. It was bare, exposed to the claws and teeth of the beast's primeval rage. With the energy of despair, Gu Song stabbed his scythe in the creature's back, aiming for the place where its heart would have been, had it been human. At the same moment, the Flying Poison was about to sink its teeth in Gu Song's very soul. Gu Song's current shape looked as if his body had been ripped apart, but there was no blood and no organs, just a ball of faint light. This was his bare soul.
"If you don't act now, his soul will be damaged. I don't know if even I could salvage..."
"Now!"
Without listening to Dian Mo's frantic words, Cao Yun unleashed his attack. The bloody chains that had come out of the Drop of Wrath to prevent Gu Song from leaving turned inward. Suddenly, they went toward both Gu Song and the Flying Poison. The chains tore through Gu Song's Soul Embryo and grabbed his soul. More of his ethereal body was blown apart. Then, the Flying Poison's teeth bit into what remained of his Soul Embryo, destroying it even further.
At the same moment, the chains stabbed through its wings, its arms, its tails and everywhere on its body. Cao Yun was as thorough as possible. He didn't want to leave a single chance to this inner demon.
Looking at the scene, Dian Mo felt as though he was looking at the breakthrough of a 1st-grade Accomplished Demon. This was the third realm of the asura cultivation, just after Blood Child and Golden Blood Child. Similarly to 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks', demons were cultivating the seven aspects of their Po. But unlike this more peaceful method, they were turning them into their Turbid Demon version before subduing them with chains made out of the blood they had cultivated prior to this realm.
Even if Cao Yun's blood was not powerful enough to trap a Turbid Demon yet, the Drop of Wrath's blood was. The problem was that the Turbid Demon itself had a deeper connection with this blood. At that very moment, it wasn't the case though. Cao Yun's influence over the Drop of Wrath exceeded the Flying Poison's. This was the perfect moment to try to trap it, just like Cao Yun had initially trapped Dian Mo.
But this wouldn't be so easily done. Of course, the beast was not going down without all the fight it could muster.
On the other hand, Gu Song's soul had no fight left in it. Only his Soul Embryo could try and protect it. Thankfully, Cao Yun had one last thing to do to completely get rid of it.