Completely naked and covered in thick dark blood, Cao Yun really looked like a devil who had emerged from the Blood Abyss. But in his golden eyes, the Sisters felt as though they could see their gods, the Weaver of Souls. Obviously, they were all shaken beyond belief. Among them, Yinlü was the most shocked of all. A few moments ago, she had watched as her twin sister was sacrificed to the Blood Abyss. She had sincerely believed that they would bring their god back to life. But instead, they had incurred the wrath of a devil. Maybe her faith and piety hadn't been good enough. Deep into her heart, she had harbored doubts about her sister's death. She was the one responsible for this because she had failed to properly worship the Weaver of Souls.
In the air, High Mother Qin Xue finally recovered. Cao Yun's 'Axiu Qian's Blood Wrath' was insane. This technique was so brutal that it terrified the Sisters below. 'Axiu Qian's Blood Wrath' focused on hand-to-hand combat, but most of its techniques were meant to be used at very close range. Thus, it relied heavily on elbows, shoulders, knees, headbutts. There were also various grabbing techniques. In other words, Cao Yun was unleashing on High Mother Qin Xue. In the span of a few breaths, she had already received hundreds of strikes. Cao Yun was moving so fast that he caused a few sonic booms.
Thankfully, the chamber was sturdy. If they had fought in the city, nearby buildings would have suffered some damage. But the chamber had already been damaged. Indeed, the Blood Abyss was still erupting as though a violent storm was plaguing it. The Sisters who had reached the Accomplished Demon realm were helping the other Sisters by making them float in the air. They should have simply evacuated them but they were still stunned.
Finally, Sister Lisha had recovered as well. She gave orders for the weakest Sisters to be flown away. The entire Monastery of Bliss and Repose had to mobilize to deal with this man. However, she didn't tell everything about him. In fact, she kept calling him Mo Yun even though he had revealed his human name. She wasn't thinking too deep at the moment and she simply didn't want to back herself into a corner. Controlling information was essential. Because she wasn't sure what was going to happen, she preferred to keep as many options available as possible. Deep down, she wondered whether Xixue was dead for an instant. But, judging by Cao Yun's wrath, it was clear that he had watched her die. Maybe they did deserve this punishment.
Contrary to her student, Sister Lisha thought they were being punished for sacrificing that young girl, and so many before her. Her beliefs had been shaken for a long time. Recently, the tremors of the Blood Abyss had renewed her faith just for it to collapse completely just now. At the moment, she had no more faith in the Sisters of the Abyss or the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. On the other hand, she was still loyal to the ideals of the Weaver of Souls. And somehow, she could sense his presence within Cao Yun. Maybe the Weaver of Souls had really come back to judge them.
"Stupid boy! You should have accepted your death!"
High Mother Qin Xue kicked Cao Yun away. Within her kick, she had poured most of her blood cultivation and she had even used her spiritual senses. For some time now, both of their spiritual senses had clashed against each other. The wrath of Cao Yun had enhanced his Flying Poison, backed up by the Drop of Wrath. As such, he was able to deal with High Mother Qin Xue. But she was growing stronger as she recovered from her initial shock. Now, her spiritual senses were using almost all of her Turbid Demons.
During a fight, a Spiritual Warrior or an Accomplished Demon could use their souls to pressure their opponents. If they fought against a cultivator who couldn't use their souls, the fight could end in an instant as their opponent was defenseless. In a fight against someone of the similar realm, those attacks were mostly meant to weaken their opponent overtime. Unless one had an overwhelming advantage, they couldn't win simply by using their souls. Still, High Mother Qin Xue tried to do just that.
The tattoos all over her shined with the color of blood. All around her, a complex web of blood, like a tapestry, appeared. Immediately, filaments of blood went toward Cao Yun. He knew exactly what she was doing and didn't try to stop her at all. This was the Sisters of the Abyss's version of 'Crimson Web of Enslavement'. However, Cao Yun had the real deal. Although he had not tried to master it, he knew enough to see many flaws in the High Mother's technique.
In his sea of consciousness, he let part of her soul enter. Soon after, he launched his own attack. Using her own web, he accessed her soul. Now, the two of them were intertwined. From their seas of consciousness, a form of ethereal battlefield formed. Their souls were clashing against each other, each one trying to take over the other. Within High Mother Qin Xue's soul, there was a large eagle with three red eyes and golden feathers. From its talons, there were silver threads still slick with blood.
In Cao Yun's soul, he manifested the full form of Axiu Qian. The red giant had three heads and six arms. This time, his six eyes were fully opened and shining a golden light everywhere. Within Axiu Qian's, there were various weapons. Among them was a large spear surrounded with black flames. In one of his right hands, there was a black mace covered in blood as it was harnessing the Flying Poison. He was also holding a rigid fan in the shape of a gourd, with purple energy around it as it was harnessing the Stinking Lungs. Besides the weapons, Axiu Qian also had a gourd at his waist. It seemed rotten and had some putrid smell from the Unclean Evil.
The two manifestations fought within their intertwined seas of souls. High Mother Qin Xue was once again shocked. She should have had the upper hand but Cao Yun was fighting her as an equal. After all, his mind cultivation was much more powerful than hers but they both originated from the same source. Thus, he knew all of her weaknesses and she couldn't find any in him. Otherwise, she would have found them in herself and corrected them already.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
While their souls were clashing, their physical bodies were still fighting. Now that Cao Yun was an Accomplished Demon, he could easily fight on those two fronts at the same time. Because he was naked and didn't have his spatial ring, he had no weapon. However, he wasn't completely unarmed. Harnessing the Black Heart Flame, Cao Yun circulated both his 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' and his Spear Intent. In his hands, a spear made of the Black Heart Flame appeared. Mobilizing his Qi Manifestation, it took on a physical shape. It wouldn't be as good as an actual spear, but it was still better than nothing.
On the other hand, High Mother Qin Xue had her spatial ring. From it, she called forth thin threads that floated all around them. They were almost invisible to the naked eye, but for cultivators of their level, they could see them distinctly. Clearly, they could cut through even a late Golden Blood Child easily. If Cao Yun's body had not been tempered, he would have been killed in an instant by those. However, as soon as she attacked him with them, he stabbed in many directions without moving from his spot.
'Crafty Harassment' and 'Dragon's Twin Horns'!
Mixing two moves together, the young man sent many gusts of wind toward the threads coming to cut him down. They were all pushed back. Above the two fighters, the stars of the Horn Constellation and of the Neck Constellation were manifesting themselves. Apart from them were five other isolated stars. But the Root Star was slowly being surrounded by a white hue as its own constellation was getting formed by the spearman. Those Seven Piercing Stars were pressuring anyone under them as if a real legendary dragon was present.
High Mother Qin Xue wasn't bothered by those stars. However, she was bothered by Cao Yun's martial prowess. She was powerful, yes, but she was no fighter. If she couldn't overwhelm her opponent with sheer strength, winning was becoming more difficult. But she still hadn't revealed all of her cultivation. If she couldn't crush him with her soul alone, she could still rely on her blood cultivation. Unlike the boy, she had lived for more than a thousand years. She was absolutely confident in her cultivation. Besides, that boy was a human. Although he had a unique bloodline and the strange ability to cultivate both the human and the demon way, she was certain he couldn't have surpassed her.
And the truth was that he hadn't. Even with the full version of 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art', Cao Yun was still leagues away from High Mother Qin Xue's level. Indeed, she was a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. In a few decades, she could climb up to the 8th-grade and finally have a fully developed Demon Soul. But even with only six Turbid Demons, her Demon Soul was twice as formed as Cao Yun's. However, she had realized that his mind cultivation was at the very least equal to hers. In fact, it might even prove to be superior. But his weakness lied in his blood cultivation. As a human, he certainly couldn't hold a candle to her. And even if he had been a full-fledged demon, or even an asura, there was no way she would lose to a junior who was only a 4th-grade Accomplished Demon.
High Mother Qin Xue circulated her own understanding of 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art'. Since 'Crimson Web of Enslavement' wasn't so good, she began to chant the verses of 'Veil of the Blood Moon'. As soon as she began to chant, Cao Yun heard a very broken version of Antique Sixian. Unlike him, she had never listened to this language. Although she could read and understand it, she had a very shallow understanding of how it was supposed to sound like. As such, her 'Veil of the Blood Moon' was rather weak, even though Cao Yun had disregarded this technique. Indeed, it was supposed to draw strength from moon and shadows. Within the Blood Abyss, it was pretty much useless.
This was only the first step she took though. It mainly served to give her some rest while she was getting ready.
'Silk Through Red Steel'!
Suddenly, all her threads went taut. In an instant, they closed on Cao Yun, trying to cut him apart. Those threads were probably made of Silk Gold, or something similar, maybe some Golden Unearthed Silk have even been mixed with it. But among those, many threads were Qi Manifestation of High Mother Qin Xue. By circulating her blood, those threads had manifested themselves. Thousands of threads able to cut through Ageless Marble were snapping toward Cao Yun. Their very movement caused a sonic boom.
'Vibrating Flesh and Burning Blood'!
Along with the movements of her threads, High Mother Qin Xue added some vibrations into the air. Before her weapon could cut Cao Yun apart, he was assaulted by a powerful melody. He immediately coughed up blood. Without any hesitation, he circulated all of his Qi and blood as his very organs were being attacked. The vibrations went past his Wei Qi and entered his body. In a way, it was similar to 'Slaughtering the Enemy' from 'Dance of Slaughter'. As he was weakened, it gave the three-eyed eagle some leeway to attack Axiu Qian. The bird circled around him, binding his legs with the silver threads it had in its claws. Then, it went straight for his left face, trying to gouge out his eyes.
Cao Yun's Qi was overflowing with Fire Qi. Even though he had tried to restrain himself, in the Blood Abyss, he could barely absorb anything else by Fire Qi. As such, he released the excess right away. The air around him turned hazy and slowed down the vibrations. Axiu Qian moved and struck the three-eyed eagle with his mace. The soul manifestation evaded but its wing got injured by the sheer movement of air. Of course, there wasn't really air, everything was going on in the strange amalgamation of Cao Yun and High Mother Qin Xue's seas of consciousness.
In the physical world, Cao Yun sustained 'Vibrating Flesh and Burning Blood' but 'Silk Through Red Steel' finally caught him. He was struck by hundreds of threads. Even his body couldn't take it all. He was lacerated all over and some of his heavy blood spilled over his skin. As he was already covered in the blood of the Blood Abyss, it didn't show. However, the Blood Abyss helped him regenerate as fast as he was cut. And despite all the strength behind the attack, not a single thread cut through his bones. He had trained his body so well that he surprised High Mother Qin Xue. He had Chief Instructor Peng to thank for that. Hopefully, he would be able to thank him in person once more.
Cao Yun still found himself completely entangled in the threads. Seeing them up close, there was no doubt that those were equivalent to a 5-star Heaven weapon. They could have cut apart an early Spirit Warrior or Accomplished Demon. In fact, if Cao Yun hadn't been covered in the Blood Abyss, he would have probably sustained extremely serious injuries he couldn't have healed fast enough. Then, she would have used his moment of weakness to strike him down. Unfortunately for High Mother Qin Xue, this moment of weakness never came.
'Imperial Throne'!
The Neck Constellation shined toward Cao Yun as a large tornado erupted all around him. In it, the blue hue of the Azure Dragon was visible, mixed in with the orange hue of the Neck Star. High Mother Qin Xue was taken aback as her offensive didn't go as planned. Several of her own threads snapped, but most endured. Those manifested by her blood cultivation were even stronger than the physical ones.