Huang Liyue was taking Cao Yun to go see his friends in the residence of Governor Leng. The Huang residence and the Governor's residence were the two largest estates in the capital, even in the whole Wu Province as a matter of fact. Even the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall's Major Hall was not as large. After all, it was meant to do business while both residences had to house entire families and also host official events. On the other hand, the Major Hall was the tallest building in the city.
While both families had given their residences for the effort against the stampede, only the Governor's residence was sheltering the wounded. And most of the physicians had been brought by the Myriad Cherry Blossom. There was also a number of monks who had come to give their help. During such a disaster, humanity was able to really come together and help one another, especially under the supervision of the Imperial City.
But as they were on their way, Huang Liyue heard the voice of the Matriarch in her mind.
"No matter what happens, make sure that neither Hall Master Fang nor Governor Leng see Cao Yun. If I were able to recognize who he was, it's possible that they might as well. Let's not take any risk. The most worrisome would be Governor Leng for political reasons. But I sense that Hall Master Fang also has some kind of history with the Cao family. Until we know more, letting them know that a boy from the Cao family has survived would be a terrible mistake."
"Yes, Matriarch. Both of them should be way too busy anyway... However, I'd like to speak with you when you come back."
"Of course... Once I'm done, I'll get back to my Phoenix Hall. I will be waiting for you and Cao Yun to talk some more."
As Huang Liyue was getting better now that she was finally breathing fresh air, she was able to hide her conflicting emotions way better than before. And because Cao Yun was too worried about his friends, he did not notice a light tension in her jaw and fists. She had clearly something to say to Matriarch Yufeng. But it could wait. Right now, she put her focus on controlling the sword on which Cao Yun was floating in the air beside her. Because she had lost her 'Feng Soaring Junk', she had no other means of transportation but weapons. Most of her fans were also in a terrible condition so she had chosen a sword.
-
Huang Liyue was the first one to see Baziyun City. Even though she had left less than a year, it had completely changed. There were fortifications everywhere. All around the cities, there were still hundreds of corpses from lesser demonic beasts. She could see some cultivators and even several mortals who were taking care of the remaining carcasses. Most likely, the higher demonic beasts had already been disposed of. Each body could fetch a substantial amount of money. In fact, some cultivators would probably try and keep some parts for themselves. But since the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall had a Major Hall in the capital, they would probably sell most of the parts to them, even the demonic cores.
Unfortunately, vagrant cultivators often had to sell even precious treasures. Most of the time, they simply couldn't get all the benefits from them, and they would even put them in danger. It was more prudent to sell them and buy more reasonable artifacts, like pills or spirit stones.
As such, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall would be extremely busy and Fang Shaolong should not have any time to wander around.
There was another thing that made Huang Liyue sure of that, it was the pain she was feeling in her heart. Indeed, the city was partially destroyed. Thankfully, the Huang residence had been mostly spared but even it had suffered some damage. From her point of view, she could see a few walls around the residence that had been destroyed and others who were covered in blood, both from demonic beasts and from human cultivators. Governor Leng's residence had even more damages while many buildings all around the city were partially destroyed and still unstable. From time to time, a wall or even an entire house came crumbling down. This was a scene of pure chaos.
Baziyun City which was so pretty was now looking a lot like the destroyed temples Huang Liyue had seen during her absence. Instead of the joyous sight she was wishing for, reality was more cruel. Thankfully, she could see that there weren't that many victims among her own family. As soon as she was close enough, she had used her spiritual senses to connect with Family Head Huang Yi. He was quite busy for now but he gave her the initial reports.
During the battle, two 9-core demonic beasts had attacked Baziyun City. It was unheard of during a stampede. And if they counted the Star Mole Dragon Elder Ying had killed, the city had been attacked by three 9-core demonic beasts in total. In the history of the Hongchen Kingdom, it had never happened since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. After all, even the demonic beasts had suffered from a cultivation plague. Just like humans and demons could not cross over the fourth realm of cultivation, the demonic beasts were barely able to form nine demonic cores. Being a 9-core demonic beasts was not as hard as being a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, but it was damn close.
What was even more frightening was the fact that the demonic cultivators had been able to manipulate that many 9-core demonic beasts. If they had focused all their strength at a single point, they could have wiped out Baziyun City. But apparently, they didn't want that. All this chaos and destruction had just been a diversion. What would happen when they would attack for real? How many would die? They had to root them out and exterminate them all.
-
Finally, Cao Yun also saw the same sights when the two of them reached the city. The streets were busy with people running all over the place. Everyone was busy either trying to consolidate buildings before their collapse, transporting some injured people, some food and water, or some resources. Here and there, several people from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and the Governor's office were also assessing the damage and trying to make a list of everyone who had survived or had died. This was chaos indeed.
Now that they were in the city, they were walking. And with each step, Cao Yun was more and more afraid of seeing his friends. From what he had heard, Yinmen City had been completely wiped out. In his head, he was creating many scenarios in which his friend had sustained incredible injuries. Even though he wanted to get to them as soon as possible, he was also terribly anxious of confirming his fear.
On the other hand, he was now more determined than ever. Doubting and hesitating all the time had to stop. Fearing for his brothers was natural but delaying meeting them because of that was plain ridiculous. His fear would increase over time if he couldn't see them. Moreover, they probably needed to see him as well. Maybe he could bring them a bit of joy. After all, just like him, they should also be afraid for him and his safety.
Before entering in the Governor's residence, Huang Liyue scanned the insides with her spiritual senses to make sure that Governor Leng and Hall Master Fang were nowhere to be seen. With her new cultivation, this was an easy feat. Besides, everybody was more worried about taking care of the wounded than to keep watch for spiritual senses. After all, demonic beasts had no spiritual senses.
What she saw inside also troubled Cao Yun. There were screaming cultivators everywhere. On hundreds of beds more or less improvised, many bloodied cultivators were writhing in pain as a handful of physicians were trying to care for them. Here and there, several mortals and other cultivators were also attending to the wounded. Some were lacking a limb, or several, others were bleeding from the head, the chest, or the abdomen. Right in front of Cao Yun, a man had lost both of his legs and was howling like a dying animal. Then, he stopped. Just under Cao Yun's nose, this man had died.
Without hesitation, Cao Yun grabbed a physician who was running around. At first, the physician tried to make him let go, but he felt the strength of the grip on his bloodied robe. The young man was a late Mortal, maybe even an early Mortal Warrior.
"Sir, tell me what I can do to help."
As he spoke, Cao Yun took out both his emblems of 5-star alchemist and 5-star array formation master. Coupled with the sincerity in the boy's eyes, the physician did not waste any time. Immediately, he gave several tasks to Cao Yun. Huang Liyue also joined him. With her spiritual senses, she could also be of tremendous help.
For several hours, Cao Yun completely forgot about his friends. As much as he wanted to go to them, he could not let that many people suffer without doing anything.
As he was running around the place to help the few physicians treat the wounded, Cao Yun finally saw Sun Liao. Because he was an array formation master, some physician had asked Cao Yun to help set up an array formation for soothing the pain of the wounded. At least, it could help those who had no chance of survival to die in peace. And it would also help the other wounded who had been more lucky.
When he went to the place chosen for this array formation, he immediately recognized Sun Liao. His brother was completely exhausted. His face was somber. For a middle Mortal, getting that tired meant that he had not slept for at least two weeks. Clearly, Sun Liao was getting close to his breaking point.
"Brother!"
Hearing this familiar voice, Sun Liao who was in the middle of giving out instructions got completely silent and turned around.
"Brother Chen! You're alive! And well!"
Immediately, both men ran toward each other and examined one another as though they were physicians themselves.
"I'm sorry, Brother... I got attacked in the woods and I wasn't able to help you."
"Zeng Minghe!"
On Sun Liao's face, there was pure hatred when he said that name. That meant that Cao Yun had been right and that his brothers had also found out. Zeng Minghe had betrayed mankind.
"Indeed. He sent an assassin after me. It wasn't easy but I survived thanks to Senior Huang Liyue as well. But, Brother, what happened to Yinmen City? I heard terrible things... I heard that City Lord Dun Mofan had died. What about Brother Ren? And the others?"
Sun Liao's face became even darker.
"Brother Ren is alive. He only has broken bones. Some of our fellow disciples died while protecting the city. Only Yun Ping survived, with serious injuries, thanks to City Lord Dun Mofan. Without him, we would have all died... But right now is not the moment. Help me get this array formation set up first, we'll talk later."
In his voice, Cao Yun could tell that Sun Liao was both trying to delay this conversation but also to sincerely set up this array formation in order to help the wounded. What he had lived through in Yinmen City had probably been traumatic. As long as Sun Liao was saying that Ren Chao was alive, it meant that Cao Yun had no reason to get worried for him. With his physique, no broken bone could take care of Ren Chao. He was the strongest and most resilient man Cao Yun knew, after himself.
For now, the young man pushed all those thoughts aside and helped his brother. After that, they still stayed busy for several more hours. During this time, Cao Yun saw many wounded die. And more of them were brought in. While taking care of the demonic beasts corpses outside the city or even while looking through the collapsed buildings, many more wounded were found all the time. Among them, there were also a number of mortals, women, children as well. As much as the city had tried to protect them, there had been a lot of casualties among the mortals.
And Cao Yun could imagine what had happened to smaller cities who had suffered from the stampede as well. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people had suffered, been killed or maimed. It would take several months to be sure of the exact number. But this was one of the greatest tragedy of mankind for a very long time. All that suffering just to create a diversion! That thought kept on echoing in Cao Yun's mind. Demonic cultivators had to be exterminated to the last one. Even the demonic beasts were not really at fault. They had been manipulated as well.
As his hands were deep in blood and guts, trying to help a physician stop the bleeding of a seven or eight-year-old girl, Cao Yun's resolve got intensified. One day, he would parade the cold body of the Demon King, leader of the demonic cultivators, from every corner of the Hongchen Kingdom. With his hands, he would end the demonic cultivators once and for all. Not only for his family, not only for those people right here, but for all of mankind, Cao Yun would dedicate his life to destroying this perverted view of cultivation. The point of cultivating was to understand the world around oneself, it was to become better, not to fall into depravity and violence. Those demonic cultivators had become even worse than beasts!
That being said, Cao Yun also remembered the words of Matriarch Huang, maybe those who had killed his family were not demonic cultivators... Never mind that! Even if that were to be the case, this would not change his mind. All demonic cultivators had to be eradicated. Their very legacy had to be rooted out. And if someone else was responsible for his family's massacre, they would pay as well.
At this moment, Cao Yun was feeling a visceral hatred as he could sense the life leaving the small body of the girl.