For what seemed like hours, days, months, Cao Yun was trapped in his own flesh. Thankfully, his mind had escaped the absolute darkness of space. But he was unable to control his body at all to the point he couldn't even open his eyelids. Moreover, he was also unable to feel anything from his body either. Without his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun would have been deprived of all his senses. Fortunately, he could enjoy his senses in this place. After all, it was his own sea of consciousness so he could experience whatever he wanted, just like in a dream he could control.

Obviously, time wasn't passing as fast as what he perceived. Although he could get the impression that entire days had passed, it wasn't the case. After days unable to do anything, he would suddenly realize that only a few seconds had gone by. It was as though he was constantly falling in a daze. But his mind was able to pull him out of it each time. That being said, it was still a difficult experience to live through.

In order to get out of this state, Cao Yun tried to connect with his Dantian. Since his sea of consciousness was located in his Upper Dantian, he had thought that this was a good idea. Unfortunately, he failed time and time again. Besides, he couldn't use his spiritual senses as he was unable to feel his body. Indeed, he had to use his acupoints to let a part of his soul out. And this had become impossible. So his body had truly turned into a prison.

Then, he thought about something else. Instead of connecting with his body directly, he tried to go through his Soul Embryo. This was risky as his Soul Embryo was still weak, but he didn't see any other way out his current predicament. Thus, he attempted to connect with the small embryo in his stomach. Considering the inherent danger of such an attempt, he was extremely careful. But it worked!

Soon, Cao Yun was able to feel his Soul Embryo. From there, he got new sensations in his Huang Ting, the Yellow Court between his Lower Dantian and Middle Dantian. Slowly, the young human was using his Soul Embryo to light up his own body. Feeling the faint waves of energy radiated from the tiny silver soul, he was able to spread his awareness back into his body, bit by bit. This was a very strange experience. At the same time, he felt closer and closer to his own Soul Embryo as it was the key to take his body back. In fact, as his intent was focused on the Soul Embryo, it was getting nourished more and more.

At last, Cao Yun was able to open his eyelids. Then, he worked really hard simply to wiggle his fingers and toes. With patience and determination, Cao Yun was finally able to sit up and even stand up.

When he did stand up, he felt reinvigorated as though he had come out of a deep sleep. Looking around, he realized that the corpse of the Weaver of Souls had crumbled into dust. But the Desolate Pillar was still raging all around him without entering the eye of the storm. Despite all of his knowledge, and everything he could read in Cleansed Asura's documents, Cao Yun wasn't entirely sure what had happened. But he knew that this was nothing bad against him. Maybe the Weaver of Souls had waited all those millenniums to share his life story. The mere fact that his corpse had endured for so long was prodigious. Most likely, it was related to the way space was acting around here. Even Cao Yun wasn't too certain about anything.

Once he was fully awake, the young man examined his body. Nothing had changed. On the other hand, he had forged his fourth Turbid Demon and had gotten more intimate with his Soul Embryo. Beside the knowledge he had acquired, this was a good harvest. Coming here had clearly been the right decision. But since there was nothing left to do, Cao Yun decided to take the dust left behind by the Weaver of Souls' body and left.

The same way he had walked through the storm to enter, he walked through it to leave. During his travel, he was happy to see that the flags he had set up outside were still there. With his compass, he was able to find his way outside while using his spear and his Spear Intent to cut through the raging storm. In his sea of consciousness, the golden Insight Writings that were forming small hymns were slowly coalescing to compose entire sentences and paragraphs.

After the Spear Intent, the next martial state was Spear Heart. From Cao Yun's understanding, one had to be one with his weapon to achieve such a state. And the manifestation of Spear Heart was the formation of an entire scripture in one's mind. This would be the foundation of one's martial dao. Everything one had understood either consciously or unconsciously would be within this scripture. Just by studying it, one could progress further and further. Although he wasn't quite there yet, Cao Yun could see the signs that he was getting there. Martial states were theoretically independent from one's cultivation, but as one's mind developed, they were easier to enter and master.

Basking in his achievement, Cao Yun crossed the storm while observing everything that was going on in his mind and soul. During his travel back, he felt like an outsider looking at a theater play. He was trying to take in as many details as he could without altering or even influencing what was going on in his own mind.

Finally, he got out of the storm. The first thing he did was to look at the stars. It was daylight so it wasn't easy, but he was still able to see the shapes of a few stars despite the intense light. Thankfully, he had indeed spent less than a month in the storm. For a moment, he had truly been worried that his perception of time had been wrong. If he had spent too long, not only would his plans have failed, but his sister might be in more danger.

It didn't take long for Hongyu to come back. Most likely, she had felt Cao Yun's return and she hadn't been too far away. Looking at her, Cao Yun could tell that she had hunted a lot and was already forming her seventh core. It would take some time of course, but she was on the right path. The two of them flew around for some time. They enjoyed each other's company and forgot about anything else for a few hours. But then, it was time to go back to the Nalupu Kingdom.

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By now, the tribes should be well organized and Fen Caiji's idea should have reached High Mother Lisha. Hopefully, she had already gotten in contact with Lord Wanghuo. Very soon, Cao Yun would get his boat and his navigator. He could already picture the Hongchen Kingdom in his mind. In fact, he could even feel it in all his senses. He remembered the smell of the grass, the taste of the food, even the gentle caress of the wind. The Desolate Sepulcher was clearly a harsher environment. For demons, it wasn't such a problem, but mere mortal humans would have a terrible time in this land.

With Hongyu, Cao Yun immediately went back to the Oasis of Life. Once there, he put the dust of the Weaver of Souls' corpse into the Blood Abyss. He wasn't sure of anything, but it might help the Sisters of the Abyss in the long term. And indeed, in the decades to come, the Blood Abyss would get more and more potent, increasing the strength of the Sisters and their influence over the Desolate Sepulcher. Moreover, it proved that High Mother Lisha's ways were better than High Mother Qin Xue's. No more girl was sacrificed to this Blood Abyss. Still, over time, the Blood Abyss would decline again and again. It was impossible to keep it as vibrant as it was without doing anything. Thus, High Mother Lisha created a new form of sacrifice. When she decided to elect a new High Mother, she sacrificed herself into the Blood Abyss. And it did work. Now, only the most powerful member of the order would give their life for the Blood Abyss and only at the end of their natural life.

Once he was done, Cao Yun asked for reports on the situation. Everything was going very well until he read about the Blazing Swallow. Apparently, Nie Pian had betrayed them. The old crook had ran away with a substantial amount of money, to the point where he had almost bankrupted the shop. Without Boss Gui's founds and a little help from the Sisters, the Blazing Swallow would have closed while Cao Yun was away. Nie Pian had indeed been enslaved as punishment for his crimes, tax frauds. But for years, he had stayed loyal to the Blazing Swallow even under all the pressure by City Lord Sihe.

After his betrayal, a terrible thought occurred. What if he had been working for City Lord Sihe all along?!

This new turn of events didn't disturb Cao Yun at all. There were seals in Nie Pian's soul so the only person he could turn to was City Lord Sihe. And he did. According to the Sisters, he had joined City Lord Sihe and had asked for his protection. In exchange, he gave him pill recipes and even evidence against Boss Gui. Considering the desperate situation City Lord Sihe was in, he was forced to agree. As he couldn't get rid of Cao Yun's seals, City Lord Sihe added his own to counter them. Obviously, Cao Yun could easily unravel them all, but he would need to get close enough to the old man.

While reading all the reports, Cao Yun was visited by High Mother Lisha.

"We are ready. Lord Wanghuo accepted an audience."

"When?"

"In six months from now."

"Good. I still have a few things to deal with. Tell your Sisters to improve the security around Duma City. I fear that City Lord Sihe will do something stupid against either Boss Gui, the Blazing Swallow, or both. If he does, it will help us a lot. Let's hope that he is that stupid. But there's no reason to risk the lives of our allies in this hope. However, I haven't heard any news on Marshal Weiji. What about him?"

"After his summon by Lord Wanghuo, he secluded himself. No one has heard of him since then. We do have a few Sisters in the capital. But if you want to shift our focus on Marshal Weiji..."

"No need for that. I know that your Sisters are already spread thin as it is. But if he makes any move, I want to be informed of it.

"Have our trip to the Nalupu capital prepared. Considering the distance, we'll leave in four months. This time, I will accompany you to talk to Lord Wanghuo in person and not through you."

"I understand. Will that be all?"

"Yes. Let no one disturb me as I meditate and cultivate. And treat Hongyu with as much respect you would do me."

"Of course."

High Mother Lisha left and made sure that Cao Yun's orders were known and obeyed. In Duma City, there were five Sisters. Among them, there was a single Accomplished Demon, but she had already formed three Turbid Demons. She was thus a middle Accomplished Demon. In other words, she was more powerful than anyone around Boss Gui or even around City Lord Sihe. Although she couldn't face an entire army, she could deal with any assassin sent by City Lord Sihe. Besides, her stealth was a huge advantage. However, no assassin was ever sent.

City Lord Sihe had already lost a lot. For the time being, he had decided to be much more passive. He was licking his wounds. Instead of being rash, he was carefully planning for his next move. With Nie Pian by his sides, he hoped to find an economic way to bring Boss Gui and the Blazing Swallow down. This was more his domain than violence. At heart, City Lord Sihe was a businessman after all. Although he had no problem hiring assassins, or even sending small armies, this wasn't his forte. Moreover, he had suffered several defeats recently so he decided that this wasn't his time yet. He might have tried to grab too much too fast.

On the other hand, Marshal Weiji was seething with rage. His niece and and son had been murdered. He didn't believe the theory of the accident for one instant. After all, he knew that this laboratory was fake. As much as he knew that Weiji Nian had dabbled in poison, he also knew that she hadn't made the poison herself. There was no reason why she would have played around with such potent poisons in her own home, let alone in the Oasis of Life. She was blinded by her attachment to her son, but she wasn't completely insane and stupid. Thus, Marshal Weiji could only see one guilty. He was absolutely certain that Boss Gui was somehow behind it. This was the only logical conclusion he could come to. After all, Mo Yun's survival wasn't known outside of the nomadic tribes. And they had no reason to spread it around.

Obviously, the news would indeed spread. But it would take some time. And it certainly hadn't reached the capital yet. In fact, it wouldn't reach the capital for quite some time. On the other hand, Lord Wanghuo would be informed ahead of time by his own spies. Undoubtedly, he would know that the Sisters of the Abyss wanted him to be informed as he was going to be visited by High Mother Lisha and the so-called Mo Yun.

Marshal Weiji was under house arrest because of his family's involvement with poisons. Officially he was free to go but Lord Wanghuo had been clear enough that he didn't want him to leave his residence. There had been enough problems. Even now, Lord Wanghuo was forced to deal with things he didn't like. He loved reaping the benefits but he didn't quite liked to deal with any form of problem. Unfortunately, he had to at the moment. And it was keeping him away from his harem.

In his residence though, Marshal Weiji had gathered anyone who was loyal to him. If he could solve Lord Wanghuo's headaches, he would regain his favors. At the same time, he could avenge his family as well. Thus, his sights were turned toward Duma City and Boss Gui.