Unbeknownst to him, Cao Yun was following a specific trail that had been laid out for him. Although he was convinced that he was acting on his own accord, there were invisible forces drawing him nearer and nearer to their dark intent. From the very moment he had entered the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, High Mother Qin Xue had sensed him. Even now, as he was stealthily walking through the corridors to spy on the Sisters of the Abyss, her senses were on him. There was nothing he could do, nowhere he could run. Cao Yun was already trapped but he simply didn't know it.
The only reason why High Mother Qin Xue didn't directly attack him was to avoid causing a scene. She would rather have him dealt with in secret. Since no one other than her could detect him, the young man was making her job easier. It was as though the lamb had come with the hatchet for its own slaughter. There was no scenario in which Cao Yun could escape or survive. Thus, High Mother Qin Xue was very calm and even found the situation amusing.
Honestly speaking, she was sincerely astounded by his stealth technique. If only Cao Yun had been a real Accomplished Demon or a Spirit Warrior, he might have been able to fool even her. The Sisters of the Abyss had a very high affinity with blood and yet, his own bloodline was almost concealed from her senses. Sister Lisha had caught some glimpses of it a few times. Although High Mother Qin Xue didn't know what it was exactly, she could tell that it was ancient beyond belief, maybe even predating Demon God Da Mo and the Weaver of Souls themselves. This truly was a pity that Cao Yun was a male, and a human too. Otherwise, she was sure that she could have refined this bloodline further before offering it to the Blood Abyss.
Deciding not to dwell on it, High Mother Qin Xue observed as Cao Yun was getting dangerously close to Xixue's quarters. She had given orders to isolate her until this situation was resolved. Using her own spiritual senses, she was subtly influencing Cao Yun but also giving instructions to the Sisters. That way, she could control everything Cao Yun heard, giving him precisely the information she wanted so he would follow the trail meant for him. And it worked so well this wasn't even funny.
Before long, Cao Yun found himself in a large room directly under the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. Despite his powerful mind cultivation, the young human realized that he had no real recollection of how he had gotten here in the first place. He had been following some clue in order to find out where Xixue was. One thing led to the next and then there he was. The room was extremely vast, full of intricate and beautiful sculptures. Although he didn't know who they were, statues were clearly representing some demon gods or sages. Most of them were females but not all of them.
The ground was made of rock with very complex carvings in it. But what really caught Cao Yun's attention were wells. Everywhere, there were deep wells from which a thick odor of blood was exuding. In this room, the entire air was saturated with the stench of blood. But along with it also came a rich vitality. Even Cao Yun's Drop of Wrath reacted to it. From the outside, heavy doors were preventing any of this atmosphere from leaking outside. But once he was inside, his Drop of Wrath seemed to be overjoyed, ready to devour everything. Besides, he also got a sense of familiarity from some of the statues. His mind cultivation was circulating by itself just after looking at some of them, just like what happened each time he used the calligraphy Sister Lisha had wanted.
Cao Yun got closer to some of those statues. At last, he saw seven statues across the room he hadn't noticed at first. They were not demons, nor humans, not even demonic beasts. Seeing them, there was no mistake possible, they were Turbid Demons personified. In fact, Cao Yun recognized the Flying Poison right away. It was riddled with protruding bones covered in eerie green hair. Three bony tails were circling him. In fact, they were so lifelike that they felt as though they really were moving. The statue itself could have jumped toward Cao Yun and he wouldn't have been surprised.
Then, the other statues were clearly the six other Turbid Demons. But before he had any time to really study them, he felt a suffocating aura all around him. In an instant, his seven apertures and his 361 acupoints were completely sealed. Cao Yun couldn't move at all, not even to breathe. While observing the statues, he had become one. As though controlled by invisible strings, he rose into the air. Before he could get to grips with the reality of his situation, the young man was levitating above the largest well in the room. Below his feet, he could somewhat see the surface of the liquid in the well. Since he couldn't move his head in the slightest, he didn't have a perfect view, but this was enough for him.
The well was filled with blood obviously. Below Cao Yun, said blood was almost boiling. Falling into this well wouldn't be a good thing at all.
As he was still perfectly paralyzed, Cao Yun was trying to mobilize all of his cultivation, but to no avail. When he used his blood cultivation, his very bloodstream turned cold, so cold that moving his blood around became torture. When he used his Qi cultivation, his meridians suddenly shrank and a stabbing pain assaulted all of his acupoints. When he used his mind cultivation, his sea of consciousness got covered in a red mist fogging his mind. There was nothing he could do at all.
Suddenly, all his clothes were ripped away from him. Even his spatial ring was taken away from him. Thankfully, he had left his main spatial ring with Hongyu, along with his most prized possessions, like the paintings of his family. In this spatial ring were only ingredients, tools, supplies and his weapons. Moreover, there were also seals on it. It wouldn't be easy for anyone to look what was inside of it. Of course, right now, this wasn't his main concern. There was no doubt that he had been attacked by a late Accomplished Demon.
Finally, High Mother Qin Xue appeared in front of him. Just like Cao Yun, she was floating in the air. This time, she had adorned her ceremonial red and golden robe. With a small dagger in hand, she recited a few mantras, made several mudras and then began to cut into Cao Yun's flesh. The wounds were extremely shallow, just enough to let out some blood. Even High Mother Qin Xue had to exert a tremendous amount of strength to pierce through Cao Yun's skin. For an Accomplished Demon, this wasn't much, but an early Spirit Warrior would have had a tough time injuring him with such a light weapon. Besides, his wounds would have closed almost instantly. Because she was suppressing his blood cultivation and using her own, he could recover.
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Soon enough, Cao Yun was covered in bloody runes carved directly into his skin and flesh. In his mind, there was no doubt about what High Mother Qin Xue was doing. She was preparing a sacrifice. The entire time, she didn't talk to him, as though he was already dead. Only at the end did she acknowledge his existence.
"Boy, this is such a pity that I couldn't train you more. As a human practicing blood cultivation, you would have so many secrets for us. But I only care about the blood hidden in your very heart. Although I'd like to rip it away from you, I realize that it wouldn't work at all. This blood would destroy me as it is. So I have no other alternative. You will feed the Blood Abyss, the blood pool of our god, the Weaver of Souls. Do not worry, your death, albeit incredibly painful, will be rather quick. Besides, you will serve a most holy purpose.
"And so you can die in peace, the girl you were looking for, Xixue, she will join you soon enough. Unlike you, we can train her so she becomes a most appropriate sacrifice. If your blood nourishes the Blood Abyss well enough, she might live longer. Think about that..."
Without further ado, High Mother Qin Xue dropped the young man. As if a puppet whose strings had been cut, he fell into the well down below. Finally able to move, he still couldn't do anything since he couldn't fly. He couldn't use his cultivation right away either as his body was recovering from the shock. However, he had no time to do so as he body entered the pool of blood.
Instantly, he felt a terrifying pain. It was even worse than the lava pool Dian Mo had sent him to during the trials of the Palace of Wisdom. There was an insane heat assaulting his entire body. From his wounds, the blood from the pool tried to enter his flesh and got mixed in within his own bloodstream. Cao Yun had never felt such an intense pain. For several minutes, that almost turned into hours, he fell down the pool of blood. This excruciating torture almost broke his spirit, but it didn't. However, the young man was forced to circulate his entire mind cultivation. In particular, he focused on the Chamber of Medicine Field of his Upper Dantian.
Within the blood pool, even High Mother Qin Xue's influence couldn't reach him. But it wasn't really a problem for her as the blood was going to devour him in mere instants. And she was perfectly right. The blood all around him entered through the runes she had carved in his flesh. Within his bloodstream, there was now a devouring force, avid of his blood. No matter what he tried to do, he couldn't counter it. Even though he had regained the control of his full cultivation, this was just too strong and violent for him to do anything. It was as a raging storm had entered his veins, everything was being swept away.
This blood had a tinge of the intent he had felt within the desert, but it was much more diluted. Besides, it seemed to have been completely corrupted, mixed in with so many different bloodlines that it had gone out of control. Although the intent had no consciousness, it was as though it had gone insane and berserk, devouring everything. As soon as Cao Yun touched the blood, it became even more vicious than usual. It was as though it had sensed the same familiarity from Cao Yun too. And now, it wanted to cleanse itself of its impurities by devouring the man from which the sensation emanated.
As his flesh was quite literally being devoured, it was trying to heal and reform itself. Thanks to his blood cultivation, his flesh was indeed full of vitality. His very veins were reforming a bit slower than they were being consumed. Thus, some of the intruding blood left his bloodstream and attacks other tissues such as his muscles and bones. Thankfully, Cao Yun's Golden Blood was so heavy that it was not leaving his body. Besides, the pressure from the Blood Abyss itself preventing his wounds from bleeding out. The problem was not blood coming out but blood coming in.
Feeling the Drop of Wrath, the blood from the well headed toward his heart where the physical Drop of Wrath was. Obviously, as soon as this corrupted blood entered his heart, the pain almost killed Cao Yun. If he had not been using his mind cultivation already, the pain would have knocked him out for good.
When finally, the blood reached his Drop of Wrath, everything changed. The corrupted blood had found its tastiest meal and it sank its teeth into it. A massive surge of blood from the pool invaded Cao Yun's body. Using everything he had, Qi, spiritual senses, blood runes, the young man tried to keep it away from the Drop of Wrath. Too weak and completely submerged by this Blood Abyss, he failed. However, the very moment the corrupted made contact with the Drop of Wrath, the prey and the predator exchanged their role.
All of a sudden, the corrupted blood tried to flee from the Drop of Wrath, saving Cao Yun's life. Some of the blood that was too close to it couldn't react in time. A large quantity of this corrupted blood got sucked in the Drop of Wrath in an instant. Unfortunately, the corrupted blood still stayed within Cao Yun's body, eating away at his flesh everywhere it could.
Cao Yun's Lower Dantian was thankfully protected by his Qi cultivation as a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. His Middle Dantian had been under too much strain to protect itself because the corrupted blood had been attracted by the Drop of Wrath. Ironically, what had attracted so much fury was also the reason why Cao Yun's Middle Dantian and heart were safe. Some of the corrupted blood even tried to enter his Upper Dantian, his head and his brain. After seeing what the Drop of Wrath had done, Cao Yun focused all of his mind cultivation on it. His entire sea of consciousness turned into a red sea and the image of Axiu Qian appeared. From his three heads, only two eyes opened. But they shone a golden light that imbued his sea of consciousness. Cao Yun's spiritual senses were enough to keep the corrupted blood away from his mind, but it wasn't powerful enough to protect his entire body.
Still tormenting by his flesh being devoured and reformed at the same time, Cao Yun could barely think and was acting out of instinct. By then, most of his mind had retreated within his sea of consciousness. However, it wasn't as safe as he had thought.
Because his entire being was under assault, it gave an opening to his Turbid Demons. Although Flying Poison was fully under his control, Unclean Evil and Stinking Lungs were not. Since he had cultivated the two of them at the same time and had reached completion for neither of them, both were a threat to him. Deprived of intelligence, they still reacted to Cao Yun's moment of weakness.
Just like his Flying Poison, they both appeared in his sea of consciousness and started to take on a monstrous form.