Cao Yun had been barely aware those past months, so he didn't know what was going on in the settlement. However, he knew perfectly well that Xixue had nursed him all this time, almost never leaving his side. Once again, he felt as though he was seeing another side of her. Even her face seemed much more expressive. Until now, she had mostly been playing the role she had been taught by City Lord Sihe. Even when she had given up on his plans, she had kept playing the role of the good assistant, always professional and barely showing her true colors.

Truth be told, Xixue was still just a little girl forced to grow up too fast in this brutal world. Similarly to Cao Yun, she had survived the obliteration of her family, either killed or enslaved, and her sister had been taken from her. From what they knew, she was probably a slave welcomed by the Sisters of the Abyss. So they had no way of being sure whether she was alive, serving them, or dead, still serving them anyway.

In Xixue's eyes, Cao Yun saw his own, as well as his sister's when he saw her being taken from him. Kids, and young girls in particular, were a soft spot of his. It had been the same for Mei Ying, Mei Hua's little sister. But this was different now. Xixue seemed to be ready to open up, and maybe he should too. After all, if he wasn't mistaken...

"I'm fine, thank you. I sensed you by my side for a long time now."

Xixue could feel some doubt in his voice. Instantly, she knew that he wasn't putting up a front. With his mental fortitude, he could perfectly control his emotions. But he chose not to. As a consequence, Xixue also decided not to hold anything back. That being said, the two of them didn't know how to begin this conversation, so she answered blandly.

"No, Master, it is I who must thank you."

Xixue looked all around very suspiciously. Obviously, Cao Yun noticed this behavior and rightly concluded that she had something to tell that shouldn't be overheard by others. Thus, he expanded his spiritual senses around them both. Even though he was still somewhat lacking in Qi, using his soul wasn't a problem at all. Of course, he couldn't push it too far. But his soul had also grown from his recent fight. On the other hand, it was a bit harder to use his 'Ashen Feather Seal' that relied on Qi Manifestation, so he limited it. Thankfully, he only had to cover a very limited area. After all, he could simply send his thoughts to her, or even control the flow of his voice in the air so it would only reach her ears. In fact, he was controlling the flow of air around them both so no sound would escape. He was just being very thorough, especially because he had a good idea of what she wanted to talk about. After all, she had been the one who had found him after the fight...

As he was enveloping her in his spiritual senses and his 'Ashen Feather Seal', Cao Yun felt all the seals Dian Mo had added in him. Until now, he had not really sensed them and that in itself was worrisome. After all, Dian Mo was not too reliable recently. But he had not attacked him or anything while he was weak. In fact, if Dian Mo had tried anything, Cao Yun might have died by trying to defend himself. Thus Dian Mo had maybe decided not to risk it. A few months ago, Cao Yun wouldn't have thought that at all, but he had to accept the reality of his companion.

At first glance, the seals appeared to only keep up the appearances of a demon by hiding his meridians and Dantian. As a result, they had also slowed down his Qi recovery, but this seemed like an acceptable bargain. From what he had overheard already, some in the tribes were almost fanatical. If they learned that their Tie Po was really a human, he was certain that they would react violently. In fact, Cao Yun was re-examining his choices at this very moment.

His main goal was to get out of this place and back in his own kingdom with enough strength to take down Emperor Weide, the traitor of mankind. In his plans, he had found a way to maybe eradicate a large part of the slave trade in the Desolate Sepulcher. Of course, demons would probably keep slavery as a form of punishment or a way to sell oneself in order to repay debts of some kind. He wasn't foolish enough to think he could change an entire culture by himself. However, he was worried that the tribes and the slaves would die in large numbers. Even during the last battle, many had perished. And many more would perish under his name. He wasn't too sure about any of that... Hopefully, there were other ways. What he really needed was power!

Once again, Cao Yun was at a loss but he didn't want to go back to being indecisive.

No one had all the answers. Everyone was just trying to lead their lives as best as they could. Cao Yun simply needed the strength to shoulder the consequences of his own actions. If, or rather when, he made mistakes, he would have to correct them and not reject the fault on someone else. Maybe he could find a way to resolve things more peacefully, but for now he would stick to his plans. Besides, they could evolve along the way. They already had several times. Besides, despite his status and the name given to him by the tribes, he had no authority on them. First of all, he should listen to their opinion, to know to which lengths they were ready to go.

Hopefully, he could get Sha Chai Ren on his side. He seemed reasonable enough. Still, he would need to know how the dynamics within the Sand Wolves Tribe and among the other nomadic tribes had evolved. Honestly, Cao Yun was really tired of all this politic. He was forced to use it, but he had really no interest in it whatsoever. Besides, he could see that leaders weren't as free as he would like to be. He didn't want all those restraints and responsibilities. After saving his Hongchen Kingdom, he wanted to explore the mysteries of the Dao, not lead a country of some kind.

While he was thinking all that, Cao Yun also worried about Dian Mo, still analyzing his seals. There were things in those he couldn't recognize for sure. A few months ago, he would have trusted Dian Mo as they had gotten closer as time had passed. But after his heavy injury against Demon King Mo Wang, he had changed. The simplest explanation was that he had been corrupted by Mo Wang's mind in some manner. There were alternative explanations, though... Maybe the injury was more serious than he had thought and Dian Mo was dying. If that were the case, he might be aiming to overtake Cao Yun's body as he had once planned already.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

No matter what the truth was, Cao Yun had made a deal with Dian Mo he could not go back on, unless Dian Mo directly betrayed his own word first. For the time being, he had done no such thing. Moreover, Cao Yun had to admit that he had grown attached to their conversations. But they were already gone anyway. At the very least, they weren't the same. It was as though he had lost a friend who had drifted away with time. As those thoughts crossed his mind, he remembered his sworn brothers and sister. He had no idea what they were living through right now.

In fact, Cao Yun had been thrown away from the Hongchen Kingdom before he had learned the nature of the attack. Cao Yun only knew what had transpired in the Imperial City. Unbeknownst to him, several portals had been opened everywhere in the Hongchen Kingdom. Things had been very bad at the time. Since he didn't know, Cao Yun could only imagine the worst scenarios. Thus, he preferred not to dwell on it at all, especially considering the fact that he had no power over it. Several of his Turbid Demons could be cultivated with all the emotions he was feeling at the moment. But that would be for later.

Although Xixue's cultivation was weak, she felt the protection of Cao Yun around her and began to speak. It jolted him back to reality. Instinctively, he had used his Chamber of Heavenly Court to speed up his thoughts. Apparently, his mind had indeed improved as he didn't need to consciously use the chamber. In fact, he realized that he didn't need to focus on his Upper Dantian and its chambers to use most of their abilities. It truly felt relaxing, not having to focus on his own mind.

"Master, back then, I... I felt that you were..."

Yes, it was exactly what he was expecting. In her eyes though, he sensed that she wasn't asking for confirmation. She knew exactly what she had seen. In fact, she was clearly looking for a way out. Right now, she was almost begging him to tell her it wasn't so. And she would gulp down any half-baked explanation. However, he decided to go against her wishes and surprised her but saying the silent part out loud.

"Human?"

There was no use denying it anyway. If she had not told it to anyone else, he could trust her. The real threat was if someone were to try and invade her sea of consciousness as they could steal her memories. But he could set up some seal in her soul to prevent that. Now, he had the mastery to do so without endangering or harming her at all so it wouldn't be a problem in the slightest. No one in the Desolate Sepulcher would be able to pry this information out of her. In fact, he was almost certain he could protect this particular piece of information from even Xiao Xuefeng if need be. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to protect her entire sea of consciousness, or all of her memories, but he could prevent anyone from accessing certain of these.

What truly troubled Cao Yun was the fact that whoever had killed Xin Zhe knew that he was human too. And they also knew that he was no Accomplished Demon or Spirit Warrior either. He was trying to comfort himself by saying that they were not hostile. Otherwise, they would have attacked him at the moment. But the truth was that he had no idea who they were or what they wanted. He had guesses, but they were not good enough. And the most likely explanation was that they would use this information to control him somehow. He would always have this threat looming over him. Having someone on his side who knew the truth would be more reassuring than anything else.

Although she had known, hearing it directly from Cao Yun was troubling Xixue. Now, Xixue couldn't deny it.

"Master, you..."

"I'll tell you the entire truth."

And he did.

Cao Yun held nothing back about his origins or his name. Of course, he didn't literally tell her everything about himself or his cultivation. But he told her that he had come from the Hongchen Kingdom founded by Emperor Nuwa and that he simply intended to go back home to defend it against the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Since they were more or less directly involved in the sudden spike of the slave trade, she obviously wasn't too fond of them, to say the least. Besides, they had different religious views that clashed with hers. Unlike them, she had no hatred toward humans. Most likely, because she had been enslaved herself, she perfectly understood why humans had rebelled against Demon God Da Mo.

Slavery might be the tool to reunite some demons with the humans, ironically enough...

"Master, if you only plan to go back to your kingdom, why are you helping us? Are we just a means you intend to exploit?"

This time, he could see and hear genuine fear in the little girl. She didn't want to be used and thrown away like what City Lord Sihe had planned with her before she had met Cao Yun.

"This isn't wrong. But it isn't entirely true either. When I first saw what was being done to you and the other slaves in that caravan where we met, I was ashamed to let such atrocities happen. Even now, I am sincerely unsure what the right course of action is. I despise people who regard others as mere resources or pawns, hence I hate slavery, among other things. If I could at least reduce its use in your people, I would do so. But I'm not as powerful as I claim. And although I have plans, I cannot guarantee anything. I'll be honest, if I have to choose between your people and my own flesh and blood, I will choose to save my sister's future. For that, I need to survive and grow strong enough."

Hearing him talk about his sister touched Xixue. She realized that she was like him. If she could be reunited with her sister by betraying Cao Yun, she would do so without any hesitation. Even now that she was feeling closer to him, she knew that she wouldn't hesitate. Honestly, it was hurting her deeply. Being this transparent to herself was incredibly painful. And she didn't hide it to Cao Yun. She wouldn't hide her emotions or her thoughts to him any longer.

Xixue could tell that Cao Yun was being honest. Speaking of honesty, Cao Yun could have easily hidden his true intents and she would still have felt the same thing. But he was indeed being honest right now. He sincerely didn't know what was the best thing to do as he couldn't simply force his views and desires on the entire Desolate Sepulcher. On one hand, he did want to abolish any form of slavery. But on the other hand, he could already see absolute massacres taking place with ultimately no good result. In the end, he couldn't control the fate of entire peoples.

In fact, he even thought about abandoning his designs and simply leave as fast as possible. Still, he had invested a lot in the recent months and he had grown closer to many demons. At the very least, he would give them the opportunity to take down Lord Wanghuo. But politics was really not something he enjoyed.

"Master, I swear never to reveal anything. I understand your situation, and I will do everything I can to help you. However, I probably won't be too useful if even you can't come up with the right strategy. I will still tell you what I've learned during your sleep."

And Xixue filled him in on everything that had taken place. Her information was so good, he even wondered if she had spied on the meetings of the chieftains themselves.