Everything around Cao Yun reminded him of the day he had lost everyone. For sure, he wasn't going to keep losing the people close to him. Recently, he had almost lost his friends as well because of those damn spiders. And even though he had no absolute proof, he suspected the demonic cultivator chasing after him of being behind this as well. After all, his beast looked like some kind of spider. Cao Yun knew it wasn't strictly speaking a spider but an arachnid nonetheless. Still, the coincidence was a bit too much.
And right now, he had vowed to protect the egg that he had saved back then with Feng Yingyue's help. Both its parents had given their lives for it to escape unscathed and Cao Yun would make sure that their wishes would come true, no matter what!
Running through the woods, Cao Yun used his mind cultivation to put all his feelings aside. Both his Yi and Zhi were focused by his Shen and only his mission was into his conscious mind. His goal right now was to get help. Coincidentally, the spot where he had met with the soul of Cleansed Asura and where the Drop of Wrath was pointing him toward was on the way to Baziyun City.
Cao Yun knew that it was a long shot, but he may find something to help him there. Moreover, he also knew that he would probably never reach Baziyun City. Either something there could help him or he could be lucky and meet a cultivator on the way. Baziyun City was also threatened by a stampede after all. There could be some powerful cultivators even far away from the city.
While he was running, holding the egg in his robe, close to his chest, his heart was painful. The Drop of Wrath was mostly under his control in the sense that it would not try to take over anymore. Now that Cao Yun knew what it was, he was able to subdue its nature with his own Po. However, he had no real control over it, other than using its intent through the 'Cultivation of Wrath'. Maybe there were other methods in Cleansed Asura's memories but he just couldn't read them.
Right now, the Drop of Wrath was hungry for Evil Qi and that was putting Cao Yun in a dangerous situation. First of all, if the Evil Qi in him acted too violently, he could die straight away as it was literally in his heart. But another problem was what would happen after the Drop of Wrath was done devouring this Evil Qi. The last time it had devoured a big quantity of Evil Qi, Cao Yun had fallen into a coma and had a vision. Of course, he had been very injured so maybe the coma had been caused by the injuries more than the Drop of Wrath, but he couldn't be sure.
As usual it seemed, Cao Yun was pushing his body and his mind to their limits. It was so intense in his mind that the new Five Echoes Pearl got naturally formed to completion. He had been working on it for some time and was close to success, but the strain he had put on his Five Agents had forced some energy out of them into the forming Five Echoes Pearl. Unfortunately, he wasn't in a situation to use it right away.
His leg muscles were pulsating, red and steaming hot. Cao Yun had sent most of his Qi, blood and intent in them, with both the intent of the Drop of Wrath and 'Dragon's Heart''s eightfold Qi acceleration. With his mind cultivation, he completely ignored the pain in his legs. It felt as though all his tissues were about to tear. But he had to keep going.
On the other hand, Can Mouye was also running as fast as he could. The only difference was that he was not straining himself to an unimaginable degree. As a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, his body was just stronger and faster naturally. Although Mortal Warriors were not training their body that much, their mere constitution and concentration of Qi made them stronger. And each grade would accentuate the difference more and more. Compared with Cao Yun, his speed was at least three times higher. The only saving grace for Cao Yun was the fact that he wasn't too familiar with those woods. Yet, he was a beast tamer and was used to this kind of terrain while hunting demonic beasts.
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After a few hours of running, Can Mouye was now close enough to attack Cao Yun once more. But he got surprised by something unexpected. Cao Yun just stopped moving altogether. Intrigued, Can Mouye stayed his hand. They had come way too close to the city for Can Mouye's own tastes. Thankfully, by following Cao Yun, he had avoided most of the demonic beasts. Indeed, Cao Yun had been able to use his senses and his experience to avoid any dangerous beast. Can Mouye could have done so as well, but since he had to chase after Cao Yun, he couldn't change his course how he wanted.
And he knew that there were some 9-core demonic beasts in those parts. There were also several 8-core, 7-core and lesser beasts as well. Avoiding them all was not just luck. Clearly Cao Yun had a very good perception. And if someone like him stopped in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason, there was cause for alarm. Can Mouye was wondering whether there was such a demonic beast around or if Cao Yun had found an orthodox cultivator. If a Spirit Warrior was close, he could have contacted Cao Yun without Can Mouye realizing it. But if that were the case, Can Mouye could walk into a trap.
As a demonic cultivator, he had several seals on him to either kill him or even destroy his soul if someone tried to capture, interrogate him or enter his sea of consciousness. This was both a threat to keep the disciples under check, and a way to protect the secrets of the demonic cultivators. Even with that in place, Can Mouye was not privy to many secrets anyway. However, because of that, a Spirit Warrior would probably not attack him right away. They would try to find a way to capture him alive. As such, Can Mouye became extremely wary of the situation.
Yet, he had to kill Cao Yun. If a Spirit Warrior or a powerful demonic beast was there, Can Mouye would have to quickly kill Cao Yun and escape as fast as he could. Fortunately, he had thought about taking a few trump cards in his spatial ring. Most demonic cultivators kept all their resources on them at all times, fearing that other demonic cultivators would try to steal from them. Against an early Spirit Warrior, Can Mouye was pretty confident in his ability to flee. And if there was something or someone stronger around here, he was doomed anyway.
Slowly, he approached Cao Yun who was now immobile in front of some laceration in the ground. It looked like a narrow ravine. But Can Mouye felt some strange sensation coming from it. The sun was at its highest and yet no light seemed to enter the ravine at all. For a time, he thought that it was just the angle at which he was seeing it. But even after focusing his senses on it, he was unable to see anything either entering or leaving this ravine. On the other hand, he was feeling vibes that were rather familiar to him. This didn't feel like Evil Qi, although there seemed to be traces of it mixed within. If he had not paid close attention to it, he would have missed it altogether. The sensation was so faint that it felt unreal.
Of course, this ravine was very familiar to Cao Yun. Yet it was completely foreign as well. When he had fell into it, the ravine looked perfectly normal. Yet, there was this aura of death all over it now. But he was absolutely certain that this was the ravine where he had met Cleansed Asura. After gifting the Drop of Wrath to Cao Yun, Cleansed Asura had lost consciousness. Could this aura of death be the result of his final death?
According to his words, Cleansed Asura's body had already died and only his soul had survived. But in almost two years, maybe his soul had died as well. Could Cleansed Asura have truly sacrificed his remaining years to save Cao Yun? As a God-Monarch, even deadly injured, his soul should have been able to endure longer, right?
Without realizing it, Cao Yun had completely stopped in front of the ravine. He was like transfixed by it. And so was Can Mouye in a way as well. However, Can Mouye was still slowly walking toward Cao Yun so as not to startle him and to be careful of what could be around.
In his heart, the Drop of Wrath had now finally finished devouring the Evil Qi and the sensation from it was now extremely clear. Even without it, Cao Yun knew that it was reacting to Cleansed Asura. And as the intent of the Drop of Wrath intensified, Cao Yun got out of his trance. Suddenly he realized that Can Mouye was just behind him, close enough to kill him in an instant. Reminiscences from his first time here sent cold shivers down his back. The last time he had been there, he got sliced in half by a demonic cultivator. And he was not really looking forward to reliving that experience.
However, as soon as Cao Yun moved, Can Mouye appeared right in front of him. Once more, the young man found himself between the ravine and a demonic cultivator keen on killing him. Fate was a strange thing. The same disaster was happening again but in a slightly different way. Still, that did not change the fact that Cao Yun was powerless. The difference between a Mortal Warrior and a Mortal was huge to begin with. But faced with a middle Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun could do nothing at all.
Even by using all of his trump cards, Cao Yun could at best barely graze Can Mouye. And he had no more protective charm.
"Chen Guo, this is such a pity. Truly, I am sad to have to kill someone with so much talent."
Can Mouye looked at the egg in Cao Yun's clothes. All his senses were still scanning all around himself. He was worried that this was all a trap after all.
"Please, put the egg down and I'll kill you fast. There is no need to be barbaric."
A Mountain Fenghuang's egg was rather rare. As a beast tamer, Can Mouye was very interested in it. And every thing he could get to appease his master's anger was a nice addition.
Seeing the nice smile on Can Mouye's face, Cao Yun was disgusted. Clearly, his smile was fake. Can Mouye's facial expression and each of his words seemed to be nice and polite on the surface. But deep down, Cao Yun could feel that they were not just lies, they were utterly fake. It was as if Can Mouye was mimicking emotions he had never felt before. Even in the most terrifying demonic beast, there was more humanity. In Can Mouye's eyes, Cao Yun was already dead. And he was just trying to maximize what he could get out of him.
There was no way Cao Yun was going to give the egg to that monster. Considering how he acted, Cao Yun could imagine how he would treat his demonic beasts. However, he also realized that Can Mouye was acting in such a way because he got surprised when he stopped for no reason. Although he was trying to hide it, Cao Yun could see that he was even more alert than before. It was apparent that he was afraid of an ambush or some kind of trap. Sadly, there was no such thing. But the thing was that this demonic cultivator did not know it.
"Sir, if you're going to kill me, may you answer some of my questions. Are demonic cultivators responsible for the upcoming stampede all around the Hongchen Kingdom? Is Zeng Minghe a part of this as well?"
Cao Yun tried to act as composed and calm as possible. With his mind cultivation, this wasn't too hard to begin with. In a way, he was trying to get some answers through Can Mouye's behavior, but this was just some diversion to try and buy some time. If Can Mouye thought that this was a trap, he would maybe wait...
And in Can Mouye's facial expression, Cao Yun saw that he had been right with both questions. This wasn't very surprising. Only Zeng Minghe knew exactly where Cao Yun would be sent. It was because he had decided to go somewhere else that Can Mouye had killed other cultivators in his stead. But Cao Yun's idea did not work as planned. Although Can Mouye was worried about an ambush, he was not the kind to waste his time.
He would have liked to get the egg, but right now his priority was to kill Cao Yun. And he could maybe salvage the egg anyway.
All of a sudden, Can Mouye's palm touched Cao Yun's abdomen. It was right over his Lower Dantian. Cao Yun sensed his enemy's Qi gather at the surface of his own body. Although he was a Mortal, when someone was touching him he was still able to feel their Qi circulate. He knew what technique he was going to use, it was that black flame he had been able to parry earlier. At this range though, there was nothing he could do. Even if the Drop of Wrath were to absorb the Evil Qi, the impact would have already killed him before it could.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience. But, please, die."
Instinctively, Cao Yun circulated 'Dragon's Heart'. There was no way to run from this man. Thus the only way was down. Cao Yun had no idea of what was down there, but he could sense Cleansed Asura's presence and nothing else. Not a single ray of light was able to pierce the darkness in the ravine. Maybe even Can Mouye's Qi would not be able to.
With all of his strength focused in his legs, Cao Yun jumped backward into the pit of darkness. As he jumped, he felt a powerful force leave Can Mouye's palm. 'Shadow Heart Palm'. With his movement, the black flame in the form of Can Mouye's palm grazed him and burned off a part of his robe. Fortunately, it did not touch the egg that was still in his clothes, nestled against his chest.
Can Mouye was surprised by Cao Yun's actions. The young man disappeared into the darkness. As soon as he fell into the ravine, he was gone completely. Even with the senses of a Mortal Warrior, Can Mouye was unable to feel anything at all. This ravine was just like a giant black mouth devouring everything, even light, even Qi. And it gave off a vibe that worried even a demonic cultivator.
But Can Mouye had to make sure that Cao Yun was dead. Otherwise, he was going to die for sure. With a single thought, Xiong Nixie could activate his seals and kill him.