Back in the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun had finally achieved True Success in his Hun cultivation. The more he progressed the more insistent the questions he was asking himself were. The Hun character was stimulating his desire to have a meaning in life. For a long time, he had been convinced that vengeance would be his fuel. However, he soon fell into a somewhat tranquil life, despite some lurking threats. And this vengeance seemed further and further away.
Cao Yun realized that vengeance alone could not sustain him. Thus, he had turned toward martial arts and other pursuits of knowledge such as alchemy and array formations. But once more, knowledge for its own merit did not seem like it could fulfill his existence either. He enjoyed it thoroughly though. But when he imagined the life of a scholar, he didn't find it appealing one bit. The life of a solitary cultivator or of a fighter weren't enticing either. Neither was the idea of joining the army and either fighting all the time or thinking about political intrigues.
He even thought about having a family life. Maybe, he could rebuild his Cao family with Feng Yingyue. But that wouldn't bring back his dead parents. He could live happily for a while but then he would live in fear of losing everything again. The prospect of rebuilding a Cao family made him realize that if it weren't demonic cultivators, demons could also attack and rob him of everything once more. He would fear not for his life but for his family, as he was now fearing for his friends.
If not vengeance, if not knowledge, if not family, what could fulfill him? Cao Yun was in a constant indecision and he realized that his Hun cultivation was becoming slower and slower. As long as he hadn't found an answer, he wouldn't be able to move on.
He would kill the murderers of his family, but then what?
He would accumulate knowledge, but then what?
He would live happily with Feng Yingyue, but then what?
Cao Yun was only 17 and yet he was faced with the most important question of anyone's life. What was the meaning of his existence?
Ultimately, all choices would lead to either his death or the death of the people he loved. If he became a late Spirit Warrior, he would live for two thousand years and he would see many live and die. What was the point of life then? Just living to watch others die again and again?
He then thought about Cleansed Asura and Axiu Qian. They were both existences who had transcended everything he could possibly imagine. Both of them were even able to sail through the void and travel to other worlds. Was it also his aspiration? When he thought about this, Cao Yun had to admit that he was amazed. But then, doubts came back in his mind. Could he abandon this planet and everyone on it?
Cao Yun firmly believed in the precepts of the Wubei Sect. "Mankind is the treasure of the Hongchen Kingdom!" was its first and most important rule.
As his rage of vengeance had subsided and all of the threats from within the Wubei Sect seemed to be over, Cao Yun had all the time to examine his own convictions and he was confronted by a void that threw him into confusion. To try and forget about his interrogations, he threw himself in training.
He wasn't so afraid to use the intent from the Drop of Wrath anymore and he realized that it could enhance his Yi even further. Now that his Hun was well developed, he could subdue the rage from Drop of Wrath as long as it wasn't too much. The Drop of Wrath was in fact a Flying Poison, the perverted form of the Po of Jing from Axiu Qian. Now, Cao Yun had a fully formed Po character so he could somehow exert control over it. And his Hun character also gave him better control over his own Jing, as well as over the traces of Jing still within the Drop of Wrath.
Cao Yun was still a bit worried, but he had several ideas about how to tame this Drop of Wrath definitely. However he would have to further advance his mind cultivation, probably until the third layer.
-
In the meantime, Sun Liao was still recovering from his injuries. And Long Huafang regularly went to visit him. To her brother's surprise, she had started to learn a bit of medicine, just to help Sun Liao. Indeed, she felt guilty for his wounds, because, well, she was the one who had inflicted them upon him.
As she was changing his bandages, Sun Liao asked her again the same question he had for several days.
"Don't you have something else to do? I thought you'd want to train with Brother Chen all the time?"
Long Huafang did look at his face, still focused on her work. "I have to repair what I did. It's the honor of my family, do you want to sully my name?"
"You're not responsible. Even I was put under the influence of the illusions."
"But you freed yourself, while I couldn't..."
"Well, unless you train your mind, there's no way to resist against an illusory array formation. And if the plate had been activated by a Mortal Warrior, my meager achievement wouldn't have protected me. The abnormal one here was Brother Chen, he almost wasn't affected by the illusion. His mind cultivation must be extraordinary!"
In the following days, Long Huafang would surprise her brother by starting to cultivate her mind.
"It's not an excuse. Even the three guards noticed something strange..."
"Well, maybe then... you should go train instead of visiting me everyday."
Finally, Long Huafang raised her chin. "If you don't want me here, just say so! Every man would be happy to have such a sweet and innocent girl to take care of them, you know!"
"Sweet and innocent? What are those? I see none in here!"
"You... !" Suddenly, she tightened the bandages and Sun Liao yelped.
"You want to break my ribs?! Perforating my liver wasn't enough for you!"
"Don't worry! I'm learning medicine. Even if I break your ribs, I'll put them back together..."
"You brat! Go train with other muscle heads!"
"That I will! Staying with a weakling like you all day long is useless!" Long Huafang put back all her tools in a small wooden case and left the room. But just as the door closed, she added a few words in a very low voice. "I'll be back at sunset to change your bandages."
Sun Liao really didn't know what he was going to do with this girl.
-
Long Huafang spent an hour or so in the physician pavilion. She really tried to listen to her teacher, but it was quickly too boring for her. Immediately after her lesson, she went to the martial art pavilion, that was very close to the physician pavilion, for obvious reasons.
Now that Chief Elder Baishen was Cao Yun's master, she pitted him against all kinds of opponents. She even made him fight 1st-grade Mortal Warriors who restrained their cultivation so as not to manifest any Qi. In these conditions, it was still tough to fight them, but Cao Yun had a chance.
When Long Huafang entered the martial art pavilion, Cao Yun was precisely fighting such an opponent.
His opponent was not an outer disciple but an inner disciple instead, a formal student of Chief Elder Baishen. However, he wasn't a direct disciple like Cao Yun. Thus, he had decided to push him by using all of his strength, apart from Qi manifestation, to see what he was truly made of.
In terms of strength alone, Cao Yun could lift 275 dan while his opponent was a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior able to lift twenty thousand dan. In fact, physical strength became less and less important in the later stages as cultivators could use Qi to compensate. By using his Qi, a cultivator could greatly enhance his body. However, some cultivators still put a lot of emphasis on their physique, especially if their cultivation was hitting a bottleneck.
Cao Yun's opponent was Guan Mo, a twenty-seven year-old man with many scars on his body. His weapon was a staff with both ends wrapped in metal and complex engravings on the shaft.
Guan Mo wasn't even using any martial art, he relied on his strength alone. A single strike of his could kill Cao Yun. Obviously, he would stay his hand at the last moment, but Cao Yun could still feel this looming danger over his life. Chief Elder Baishen had chosen Guan Mo to train Cao Yun's speed and strength. Guan Mo was as agile as a monkey and as powerful as an ox. Hence, Cao Yun had to constantly dodge his attacks. And when he was forced to block or parry, he had to use all of his strength not to be destroyed instantly.
In the last moments of the fight, Cao Yun seemed to become as fast as the wind. His image stayed at one spot a breath or two even after he had gone elsewhere. Each time, he moved, Cao Yun sent a small 'Dragon's Twin Horns'. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he attacked and moved right away. His moves seemed to follow a very strange path. In fact, they were forming some kind of array formation around Guan Mo. From this moment forward, each time Guan Mo tried to move, a 'Dragon's Twin Horns' hit his articulations. They weren't dangerous for him but they completely threw off his concentration and his timing.
Guan Mo turned from an agile fighter to a clumsy brute. In truth, he was really tempted by the idea of manifesting his Qi to blow Cao Yun away. Of course, he wouldn't do that while Chief Elder Baishen was watching the fight. This was infuriating. With only one strike, he could win but he wasn't able to move as he would have wanted to.
Cao Yun was however using a lot of energy and very soon, he wasn't able to continue with his technique. In a final attempt, he tried to strike his opponent but his attack did not even scratch his skin. Although he was suppressing his cultivation, the Wei Qi around Guan Mo was extremely dense. Seeing his fatigued opponent, Guan Mo sent his staff in his ribs. Cao Yun tried 'The Son of Heaven's Spear and Shield'.
At the last moment, Chief Elder Baishen stopped the fight. With a single palm, she halted the staff.
"Chen Guo. Even with your defense, you're still not strong enough to take such a hit. Maybe when you break through, and even then..." She then turned toward her formal student. "Student Guan, thank you. You can go back to your occupations."
"Thank you, Chief Elder." He also bowed to Cao Yun. "Thank you for letting me win, Junior Chen."
As soon as he left, Long Huafang drew near Cao Yun. "So this is your current strength... I wonder how you would fare against my improved 'This Moon in the Eye'? I don't need to directly look at someone in the eye for it to work. What about a small fight?"
Cao Yun was covered sweat and breathing heavily. "Sister Long, what about tomorrow? I don't think I can fight anymore today..."
"You're such a weakling, just like this Sun Liao..."
Cao Yun was even too tired to laugh.
-
Coupled with his array formation training, Cao Yun had finally understood the first move of the Room Star, 'Crafty Harassment'. This technique allowed him to move around his enemies while attacking with very light 'Dragon's Twin Horns'. The pathways he followed would then be forming some kind of array formation around his opponents in which those 'Dragon's Twin Horns' were kind of like the circulating Qi. Someone trapped in this technique became slower and had a hard time just moving around, as his movements were constantly interrupted by the light attacks. None of them were strong enough to harm his enemy, but they would still annoy him enough to seal may of his movements.
The first time he had used this move, against Long Huafang, she became insane. All her moves were sealed and she couldn't even use 'The Moon in the Eye' because Cao Yun was moving around too much. This was the most frustrating fight of all her life. Since then, she had decided not to come back until she had made a breakthrough in her martial art.
Chief Elder Baishen took over.
"Chen Guo. Your technique is interesting, but it's full of holes. As it consumes a lot of energy and is very tiring, you should limit your movements to those that are absolutely essential. You're still running around a bit too much. You could have achieved the same result with half the moves, or even less. In which case, you would have had enough stamina left to at least deal Guan Mo a direct strike." She thought for a while. "I think that you should go back in the Warrior Dream array formation. It's the best way to perfect a technique. It will target all your weaknesses. By next week, I expect you to be able to achieve twice the results with half the efforts."
"I understand, Master."
-
In a few weeks, many things changed. Cao Yun's 'Crafty Harassment' became more and more refined. He quickly realized while looking at the Azure Dragon stars that he had to try and emulate their own movement. But it was easier said than done. However, he still achieved what Chief Elder Baishen had asked of him. And he was even beginning to understand a bit of the first variation from the Room Star.
Sun Liao recovered completely and continued to help him in setting up the Tidal Gathering Mist array formation. Long Huafang liked to tag along some times. And Cao Yun had the strange impression that was very accurate that she was here to be with Sun Liao. Both of them loved to quarrel but it seemed cuter and cuter.
Ren Chao was now able to tease Sun Liao back, even though his comebacks still weren't that great. But he gained in confidence since he had achieved the status of 4-star Earth blacksmith. Considering the speed at which he was improving, Ren Chao even believed that he could achieve 5-star Earth blacksmith before the end of the year. His progress was really exceptional and stemmed down from Cao Yun's advice and his rivalry with Sun Liao.
Of course, Cao Yun also spent some time with Mei Ying and her older sister. He also took care of Huang Cixi who was cultivating 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'. The girl found out just how extraordinary this mind cultivation was. Even though her Lower Dantian didn't allow her to cultivate her Qi, she still had hope thanks to both Cao Yun and Xiao Xuefeng.