Cao Yun was projected upward. Flying through the immense pressure of the Divine Blood Ocean crushed his back. Suddenly, he found himself into the air. But the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor's assault wasn't over yet. Cao Yun had been successful, the 9-core demonic beast was clearly focused on him and had completely forgotten about Fading Fang. But the plan wasn't as good as the young man had imagined it to be once he was actually faced with that giant leviathan.
The full shell of the beast left the water. Outside of the ocean, it was a bit smaller than its shadow. But it was still much larger than Fading Fang, and much much larger than Cao Yun. Although its size had been an advantage for Cao Yun when he was fighting it up close, it was also terrifying to say the least. When it emerged from the Divine Blood Ocean, giant tides erupted toward the outskirts of the dome. Indeed, the gigantic dome of water and wind was still up.
In one spot, Hongyu had focused all of her flames to try and breach it so Fading Fang could escape. Although Cao Yun wanted her to escape with it, she had no intention of doing so. Indeed, she would stay and fight with her brother no matter what. But she also knew that he couldn't go all out while he was worried about the ship. And the crew had been nice to her in the end. Despite their attitude in the beginning, after crossing through the Blood Storm, they had completely changed. She wouldn't let them to die if she could do something about it. And she could.
A giant tide was going straight for Fading Fang. Although Jing Baiyu was focused on Hongyu, waiting for the right moment to sail forward and leave this prison, he was still attentive to the fight. Hence, he saw the tide beforehand and his crew got ready for it. There was nowhere for them to go. They had to somehow go against the tide or it would literally crush them against the dome that was quite literally a storm fashioned as a jail.
In the air though, Hongyu had a better idea than just facing the tide. She waited until the very last moment. When the tide was about to hit Fading Fang, she finally unleashed all of her flames toward the dome. The shadow of a giant golden fenghuang covered in bloody feathers appeared. The blood on its feather and the gold of its flesh were all flames. Even its black eyes, talons and beaks were flames as well. It was made of Hongyu's flames and Qi, as well as her Evil Qi. It soared forward and crashed against the dome. Suddenly, the water was vaporized.
Under Hongyu's attack, a large portion of the dome turned into a literal vacuum. Fading Fang was being drawn into it just as the tide was pushing against the ship. The White Whale was smart enough to take advantage of the situation. Using those two forces, he sailed forward. Fading Fang went through the gap. They did cross through the heated vapor that almost cooked them alive. But they did go through the dome entirely. It was much thicker than they had imagined. Fortunately, Fading Fang did cross through, albeit after taking a lot of punishment.
As soon as they were out, the crew was ready to sail far away. But they immediately realized that neither Hongyu nor Cao Yun were following after them. Still, they were too scared of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. Without thinking, they got ready to sail away.
"Stop, you feckless pack of ingrates!"
Jing Baiyu's voice resounded throughout Fading Fang and his entire crew did stop. With shame, they looked behind them. Through the dome, it was extremely difficult to see what was going on clearly. However, they could see the flames of Hongyu as well as the vague shape of Cao Yun. What they saw clearly though was the titanic body of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor.
Although the demonic beast didn't seem to be able to fly, it could swim. And swim it did!
On the inner surface of the dome, the giant monster was defying gravity. Its serpentine body was covered in small pieces of scale. Of course, what was small for the demonic beast was the size of several men. Its body did look similar to a huge sea snake with a large shell in the middle. But it had not yet revealed everything it was. From its shell, many tentacles gushed forth. They all went toward Cao Yun who had not yet recovered from the intense attack. Even with all of his cultivation and body conditioning, the young man wouldn't survive more direct attacks. Facing a 9-core demonic beast was just insane. Even with its ninth core damaged, the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was not an enemy Cao Yun could face.
In that moment, the young man thought about Emperor Weide. If he could not even survive such a fight, he would never be able to face his main enemy. Despite everything he had gone through, he was not powerful enough yet. What was the point of living then...?!
Instead of fighting those thoughts, Cao Yun cultivated them. He made sure to focus on them so they would engulf everything else. This feeling of powerlessness. The sensation that everything he had accomplished was nothing. The certitude that everything he could ever do was pointless. Life was pointless!
As those feelings were growing in Cao Yun, his Fallen Arrow was getting stronger and stronger. All of his other mastered Turbid Demons had taken form already. From the Nine Soul Peaks, four golden chains had appeared, all connected to one of Cao Yun's Turbid Demons. At least, those were the Turbid Demons he had already refined.
Those chains acted as leashes. The first thing was a creature of blood and shadow covered in sickly green hair and strange protruding bony parts as well as three bony tails. Then, there was a horrid smell that was emerging from a black sludge covering a tell and slender humanoid creature. But its proportions were clearly wrong as its arms were just too long with too many joints. Besides, there were yellow and rotten talons at the end of those impossible arms. Besides those two was a bloated mess of a creature. It was deathly pale with disgusting purple outgrowths on a sick stretched so much it could snap at any moment. The poor thing had tiny legs but an enormous bloated throat covered in lacerations, with blood and puss oozing out of them. The air around that creature was turbid and poisonous.
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Finally, their last companion was a large emaciated wolf that was almost only bones its skin. But it looked bigger thanks to a heavy gray fur covering it. Unfortunately, it didn't make it look healthier as the fur was falling down its body, making it look even tinier in comparison.
Everything creature was more grotesque than the previous one. They were Flying Poison, Unclean Evil, Stinking Lungs and Corpse Dog.
Soon, another form appeared. It looked like Cao Yun at first, but it was wearing a prestigious golden armor. Cracks appeared in that armor and its colors began to dim just as the armor shattered everywhere. Jagged edges of the armor dug into the general's skin. His very helmet melted a little and literally wiped away his face. Even his nose was barely visible, it was as though his face and his helmet had been paints mixing together. As the armor shattered, the sound of bones breaking echoed throughout Cao Yun's sea of consciousness.
Finally, something became visible in the back of the fallen general. There were dozens upon dozens of arrows and broken spears stabbed into his back but no blood was visible. Instead, the armor had melted around it and its molten metal was the blood of the general. The chest of the armor caved in. In the hands of the general, there were two broken swords. At that point, the general was only holding hilts with small pieces of ragged sharp metal still holding onto it.
At last, Cao Yun had fully materialized Fallen Arrow. Technically, he was still a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon as he had yet to conquer it. But it still increased his strength by a lot.
Something unexpected also happened. His Soul Embryo reacted to it!
As his Po the Metal Corporeal Soul was evolving, so was his Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul apparently. Obviously, it affected his Soul Embryo. When Fallen Arrow emerged, a wave of despair and utter lack of purpose spread through the young man. It was as if his very life was useless and he should just give up everything and die. Although he was actively cultivating this emotion to develop his Turbid Demon, this had a real impact on him, both mentally and physically. As such, his Soul Embryo was also affected, despite his efforts to shield it.
It wasn't a bad thing though. Indeed, his Soul Embryo's reaction helped Cao Yun. A vast wave of warmth also spread throughout his body. Just as Fallen Arrow was emerging, it got weakened. There would be no battle against this Turbid Demon. Cao Yun's Soul Embryo had already struck him. Using this opportunity, the young man circulated his mind and soul cultivation. His Five Aspects fully manifested their powers. From a fifth peak of his Nine Soul Peaks, a golden chain emerged and grabbed Fallen Arrow. In an instant, it was subdued and turned into Cao Yun's own strength.
Even the young man had a hard time believing it. He had prepared himself for a battle against his newly formed Turbid Demon. This was the reason why he had manifested all of his Turbid Demons. But, in the end, such a battle had not happened. Fallen Arrow was now chained down to the Nine Soul Peaks. Too late it tried to resist. But now that Cao Yun had grabbed him, Fallen Arrow had absolutely no chance of breaking free. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no time to explore his Soul Embryo. If his Soul Embryo could help him subdue his Turbid Demons faster, the opposite might also be true. Until now, he had been afraid of damaging his Soul Embryo by using his Turbid Demons directly. But he might find ways to do so gently. And in the next stages, he might even go harder.
Developing two systems at the same time was in fact twice the results for half the efforts and not the opposite as one might have feared. Indeed, the systems were working on different aspects so they could complement each other. The only real negative point was the fact that it was almost impossible to really practice them for most people. Humans had tried to imitate the blood cultivation of demons but it wasn't as good and useful so the positive effects were fewer.
Anyway, Cao Yun was still in the middle of a fight. Although his cultivation had literally just broken through and he was now a legitimate 6th-grade Accomplished Demon, his opponent was still much stronger than he was. That being said, the sudden surge of energy and warmth through Cao Yun's body made him feel much better as well.
The tentacles of the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor came right for Cao Yun. As they closed in on him, many smaller flagella spurted forth from the large tentacles. Everything was slimy and with a thick smell of fish. Honestly, Cao Yun was disgusted. Before he could do anything though, Hongyu was already there. With her speed, she could cross through the dome in an instant.
As she moved around, she tore through the sound barrier many times causing a powerful shockwave throughout the watery jail they were in. Even the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor was shocked while it was swimming in its own stormy dome. Unfortunately, Hongyu had used a lot of her strength already and she had barely any flame left. She would require much rest before she could fight such an onslaught.
Realizing that Hongyu had not left the dome, Cao Yun panicked. He had to protect her! Since she couldn't fight, Hongyu didn't try to face the tentacles. Instead, she simply flew right into Cao Yun to take him as far away from them as she could. With incredible speed and agility in the air, she flew across thousands of flagella and was finally able to escape in another part of the dome. But the tentacles kept on coming for them.
Without waiting, Cao Yun took out two pills. He gulped one down and threw the other to Hongyu who did not hesitate an instant. When it came to her brother and his pills, she had blind faith in them. And she was right. Already she could feel her strength coming back to her and so could Cao Yun.
'Dragon's Tail Sweeps the Sky'!
'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' swept horizontally in front of Cao Yun. Circulating his Spear Heart to the limit, the spear turned into the tail of a gigantic dragon, almost as large, if not larger, as the Stormriser Leviathan Emperor. It cut through the tentacles as though they were nothing. Unfortunately, it didn't cut through the dome of storm. And just as the tentacles were cut down, they simply grew back in an instant while the demonic beast screamed. Within the dome, a furious tempest rose. Thunder deafened Cao Yun and Hongyu. The very air was full of electricity as the waters below were raging as though a typhoon was upon them. The pressure in the dome also increased a hundredfold.
Such a weather was insane! It wasn't as bad as the Blood Storm yet, but imagining that a single creature had caused all this was incredible. This was the full might of a 9-core demonic beast. Even Hongyu had a hard time flying in such an environment.
Cao Yun realized that this place was almost like a Domain of sorts. Immediately, it reminded him of Emperor Weide who had been able to develop a pseudo-Domain despite being a mere Spirit Warrior. This was the best time for Cao Yun to test himself in such a situation. Now that the boat was safe, Cao Yun had a way to escape. But he was worried about Hongyu. However, he couldn't let those feelings get in the way or they would both die.