Cao Yun's strength was certainly not replenished but he was now a bit better. Considering the sandstorm he was in, if he were to wait, he would surely lose his strength again. For the moment, he was in a somewhat good spot & he took advantage of this. Spreading the property of the Drop of Wrath around, Cao Yun also unleashed some of the Black Heart Flame. It flew through the sandstorm.
Because it had almost no weight, the flame was not too affected by the violent currents. And it didn't take Cao Yun too long to sense something familiar. He couldn't be sure whether it was Hongyu or not. But in the current situation, it was more than likely. The chances for something else containing a familiar Evil Qi being in that sandstorm were ridiculously small.
Now that he had a general direction, the young man extended his Wei Qi a little bit. From his spatial ring, he took out his compass and tried to find out where Hongyu was more precisely. Since he was completely lost, he didn't even know where up and down were. Of course, this was making using his compass that much more difficult. But using his Black Heart Flame's indication, he was able to align the compass with it.
Thankfully, she had the same blood as his in her veins thanks to the various treatments he had used on her. Using the Drop of Wrath, he might be able to locate her. Thus, he extracted a drop of his own blood and tried to use his compass to find where Hongyu was. The marks he had left in Hongyu's evil core were also technically seals. As such, he should be able to locate her just as he had located his spatial ring after it had been stolen by Cang Yin. Before long, he did find where Hongyu was. Now, he had to get to her. Like him, she was moving around a lot so he had no time to lose. After his compass, he fetched his 'Tainted Heavenly Spear'.
Aiming for that direction, Cao Yun focused all of his strength. In his own sky, the Horn Constellation was fully formed by now. Cao Yun had officially mastered the first constellation of 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars'. Because of that, he could not wait to see how strong his first technique had become. Thanks to this constellation, he might even be able to reach Spear Intent faster. Focusing on watching the golden Insight Writings of his spear, Cao Yun circulated his Qi through his meridians according to his martial art. The golden hue around those Insight Writings was a bit brighter than before.
According to what he knew from Chief Elder Baishen, the best way to tell whether he had mastered Spear Intent was his ability to maneuver those Insight Writings. But it was subtle. Indeed, the more he would try to bend them to his will, the more they would resist him. She told him it was like trying to force a memory when you couldn't remember it. Sometimes, the best way to remember was simply to think of something else and leave your mind alone. It would come back naturally. Of course, that wasn't exactly the same thing. But Spear Intent was born out of one's understanding of the spear. Instead of focusing on the Insight Writings themselves, it was best to focus on simply mastering the way of the spear.
After watching his Insight Writings and the Horn Constellation for some time, Cao Yun unleashed his first move, 'The Pillar Piercing the Sky'. In this technique, he decided to use everything in order to see how far he had progressed. Because he was being thrown around, he had no footing. Obviously, his technique would be weaker than usual so he had to go all out anyway. In fact, he focused on his Qi Manifestation.
His 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' turned into a giant pillar covered in fresh blood. All around it, there was the shape of a blue dragon. Striking toward the sky, the dragon leapt forward. As its body was sailing through the storm, it created a powerful tornado around itself. As its influence spread, Cao Yun found himself right in the eye of the storm. The winds around him were stopped by this small tornado and he fell to the ground below. It was quite a long way down and pushed by his own attack, Cao Yun was very fast. Thankfully, the still air slowed down his descent.
In the end, he ended up touching the ground. He landed on his legs as he felt the shock in his entire body. However, his articulations were resistant enough and he had no injury at all, only pain. Just as he had touched the ground, he found himself standing on the slope of a rather large dune. There was no doubt now, he truly was in a desert. At least, it seemed to be in the same world Cao Yun was used to. Apart from that sandstorm, there was nothing strange around. Because he had spent some months in the Yellow Death World, Cao Yun had been worried that he was in yet another strange and unique world. Apparently, he was in the same world. Hopefully, this guess would prove to be correct.
Looking up in the sky, Cao Yun was finally able to see the stars above him. Although it was daytime, there were two bright stars shining in the distance. At first, he wasn't too sure, but he recognized them from some star charts he had read. When she had ascended, Emperor Nuwa had left behind a map of the Piaolu planet along with a star chart from both hemispheres.
Those were the Blind Twins. Then, that meant that this place was literally on the opposite side of the Piaolu planet. Cao Yun was deep in demon territory. But thankfully, he was still on the same planet and in the same dimension. However, he had no idea where he was precisely considering that the maps he had from this hemisphere were antiquated. For the time being, he could only see those two stars.
The Blind Twins were strange in the fact that they were only visible during daytime. A mortal could barely see them but a Mortal Warrior had more developed senses. During the night though, they were hidden by other stars. Many astronomers had been intrigued by those two stars. But none had been able to come to this part of the Piaolu planet. After all, they would have had to cross many demon kingdoms to get there.
Anyway, Cao Yun had no time for star gazing right now. Now that he had found his footing, although it was not great in the sand as he wasn't used to it, he had to act. Since he could unleash his full strength now, he might be able to tear through some of that sandstorm in order to get to Hongyu.
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Obviously, Cao Yun's concern was to avoid striking Hongyu directly. He had to open up some kind of corridor for her to escape the sandstorm without hurting her. Now that he was on the ground, he could use his full strength. First of all, he focused on his Neck Star. Most of his Qi circulated in his legs as he performed 'The Moon Grounds the Sun'. All around him, the faint light of the seven piercing stars appeared. For the time being, he wasn't being assaulted by the powerful winds but he knew this would happen soon as the sandstorm was rapidly closing itself around him once more.
Now that he was solidly anchored in the ground, he performed 'Imperial Throne'. The sand around him began to levitate around him as a light breeze was surrounding Cao Yun. Suddenly, he spun his spear all around him and a powerful wall of wind completely encompassed him. Without waiting any longer, he finally struck with 'The Pillar Piercing the Sky'. The wind around him began to manifest azure dragon scales. Coiling around the young man, an azure dragon launched itself toward the skies. From a distance, Cao Yun's spear looked like a real pillar supporting the heavens. But it was covered in blood. The wind around it echoed throughout the sandstorm as though the moaning voices of damned ghosts. And all around that pillar, a majestic dragon was sailing the sky toward the heavens themselves.
As the technique was reaching the sky above the sandstorm, a powerful tornado was formed in its wake. For an instant, the sandstorm stopped and everything was quiet as though Cao Yun was in the eye of the storm. All around him, the sandstorm was raging and the disturbing howling caused by his own technique was reverberating inside of it. But where Cao Yun was, there was an eerie silence. That was when he finally located Hongyu with his own eyes, not just thanks to his compass. The poor bird looked like she was broken.
Just like Cao Yun, she had been seriously injured after exiting the bleeding space. But unlike him, she had not been strong enough to bear the violence of the sandstorm. Her body was covered in blood-soaked sand sticking to her feathers. Both of her wings seemed to be broken as they were bent in unnatural positions. Despite that, she was trying to cover her face and her chest with those wings. Indeed, she had tried to bury her head close to her chest, beneath her feathers. Looking at her, Cao Yun's heart got cold. Once more, she had suffered a great deal in order to protect him. Without any hesitation, she had flown in the middle of a terrifying fight to get him out safely.
Although Cao Yun was worried a great deal about his younger sister, he was also very attached to this Hongyu. Her parents had died because of him and for him. He would not let her suffer the same fate. Luckily, she had still a lot of the Frozen Fire pill's medicinal essence in her and he had his spatial ring on him. With the Fire Qi in her, she would be able to rapidly form her fifth core which would help her heal faster. And Cao Yun had several pills and balms that could help her as well. But his first order of business was to bring her back safely to the ground.
Pushing 'The Moon Grounds the Sun' to the limit, he completely anchored himself in the ground. Then, he suddenly released all of the tension and jumped as high as he could. With his powerful physique, he had no problem reaching the quivering Hongyu. Unfortunately, he couldn't fly and neither could she at this point. In fact, she was barely conscious. Thus, Cao Yun grabbed her unceremoniously before falling back toward the ground again. This time, he used 'Dragon's Chest' to cover the both of them in a layer of dragon scales before they hit the ground. Even though he could survive the fall, the shock of the impact would vibrate through his body. And the sudden stop of the fall might affect Hongyu.
Even with this layer of protection, Cao Yun did not hesitate to use his understanding of 'Dance of Slaughter' to try and negate any vibration through his body. This was taxing on his articulations but it preserved Hongyu. This was another use of the martial art he had developed himself, 'Axiu Qian's Blood Wrath'.
When he reached the ground, he sunk deep in the sand dune. Paradoxically, this was a good thing as this would protect them both from the sandstorm as it came back. It was like a tide closing up a hole in the ocean. For an instant, the sandstorm outside became much more violent as it was closing up that hole. At the same time, it completely buried Cao Yun and Hongyu beneath the sand.
Although the sand was packed around him, Cao Yun was still strong enough to dig up some kind of bubble around them. Air was rather scarce but it would be enough for quite some time. In his spatial ring, the young man had taken many resources to survive in case he was transported in a strange land. His experience in the Yellow Death World had taught him an invaluable lesson. He didn't only have food and water, he also had some tools. Among them were a few tents he had prepared. In fact, he could set camp almost anywhere in a few instants. And he did, deep under the burning sand, below the sandstorm.
Of course, he didn't intend to stay here for too long. But for the time being, his priority was to help stabilize Hongyu's condition.
For the first time since he had left the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, Cao Yun could not hear Dian Mo's voice at all. In fact, he could barely feel his presence in his sea of consciousness. This was something else he would need to worry about. But for now, Hongyu's condition seemed even worse. Even without speaking of how useful a flying demonic beast could be, Cao Yun was deeply attached to her as well. There was no way he was going to let her die.
Pushing aside all his thoughts about his little sister, Cao Yun focused on the Blood Boiling Fenghuang. From his spatial ring, he took a Merging Minerals and Seas pill. Such a 5-star Human pill could help replenish blood as it was also tempering one's bones and marrow. He also used a Pure Golden Threads Salvation pill. Both pills were extremely expensive and he had refined them himself.
Since she was barely conscious, he helped her direct the medicinal essence through her body. After spending many months helping her deal with her Evil Qi, Cao Yun knew her body as well as he knew his own. Thus, the treatment was very effective and before long she was completely stabilized. In her wings, the broken bones were being mended by the medicinal essence of the Merging Minerals and Seas pill just as it was also entering deep in her bones to promote the production of more and more blood, replenishing her strength.
Those pills weren't without any risk as they were pushing Hongyu's exhausted body to the limit. Indeed, they were using her own body to heal herself. Thankfully, Cao Yun was also sending his own Qi in her and the Fire Qi from the Frozen Fire pill was also acted as an energy source. Thus, she didn't completely regain consciousness but she didn't fall any deeper. Her breathing that was too slow started to come back to normal. After several hours, everything seemed fine for her. Cao Yun would stay buried underground for a few days to make sure she was fine.