Inside a formless void there was only one thing keeping reality together, a brilliant lotus in which two young cultivators were focusing their energy. Both of them were trying to move this Absolute Haven Lotus. Without it, they would have already ceased to exist altogether. The only reason why they could even perceive that nothingness that was trying to destroy them was thanks to this Absolute Haven lotus. Its mere presence had corrupted the perfect nothingness making it something in-between, neither substance nor void.
But they were now closing in on this incomprehensible geometric structure. it was curved in all manners that seemed foreign to those young cultivators. Neither of them had any understanding of the laws of space. In fact, they had never gone into another dimension apart from Mo Zi in that exact same place last year. As such, seeing what was going on outside of those realms was beyond their understanding. Thankfully, Mo Zi didn't need to understand anything as long as he could control the Absolute Haven Lotus from his master.
As the name suggested, this was the most powerful protection his master could imbue in an array formation plate. Although it wasn't as powerful as some other Heaven array formations in any specific domain, it was better in average overall. Instead of specializing in a specific kind of defense, it could protect against anything with very good performances. And right now, it was even defending them against the absence of space itself.
Finally, the lotus touched the strange membrane that was adrift like them. At that moment, they began to see something beyond this membrane, as though it was a veil covering up a small world. Inside were several asteroids drifting in the void of space. This kind of void was better than the void they were trying to run from. To be honest, none of them really understood the difference beforehand. For them, void was void. But now they had touched upon the fact that this wasn't as simple as that. In the void of space, there was still space and time. In the void around them, there was absolutely nothing at all. It was true nothingness.
Mo Zi was able to feel a great resistance. This membrane had an intense pressure sent outward. The more they pressed against it, the more they were pushed back. But because he had finally reached another realm, Mo Zi did not need to use the blood runes to locate his brethren anymore. Instead, he could use them all to try and weaken the membrane. On the ground, Wang Jinhua tried to resist the pain. But it became too much for her and she lost consciousness. In her last moment of clarity, she pleaded her brother. She knew how little it would have been effective toward her, but she hoped that her brother would be more grateful than her.
With her out cold, Mo Zi was forced to take full control of her blood runes. The reason why no one had pushed the blood runes beyond a hundred and eight was not just because the method said so. It was also because their bodies could simply not resist more than that. There was a perfect balance between all the runes. Each one had slightly different roles. Even the Evil Qi within was distributed in a specific manner. But if the balance was broken, the Evil Qi could erupt within the body and cause unimaginable damage. However, now he had no time to worry about this. Piercing this membrane and entering this realm was his only chance of survival and then completing this mission. After that, the demonic cultivators would become living gods on the Piaolu planet. Neither humans nor demons would be threats anymore.
He had to succeed! No matter what!
The plate in his hands started to break apart. But the blood runes were now rotating in the petal of the lotus in contact with the membrane. At last, the membrane got penetrated. Suddenly, everything around Mo Zi changed. He was now standing in the same Absolute Haven Lotus but on the surface of the asteroid where Neng Lue was standing. The mutilated corpse of Zhao Qing was still there at her feet and she was watching Mo Zi with a bit of astonishment.
He had appeared out of thin air all of a sudden. Even she had not been able to detect anything. Yet, she boasted to be the strongest Mortal Warrior demonic cultivator. Some were not agreeing with her but no one had survived trying to contest her this title. Despite that, she was still under Mo Zi's command. After all, she had literally a seal to prevent her from disobeying him. But she had no intention to do so to begin with. Although she didn't know every single detail, she knew enough to want this mission to be a complete success.
"Sister Neng?"
Looking around, Mo Zi saw the corpse and understood. She had probably forged her last blood rune recently and it had helped him establish a connection with her. When her set was completed, it had radiated so much that it had been easier for him to detect, similarly to what could happen during a breakthrough. Sometimes it caused a wave of pure energy to be sent all around.
As the Absolute Haven Lotus faded away, Mo Zi was all smiles.
-
Cao Yun was still knee deep in blood and flesh. Although it had been less than a month, he had completely exceeded everything the Palace Spirit had hoped for.
During his first test, Cao Yun had experienced what he believed to be some kind of enlightenment. He had realized a truth about himself and about every single being under the Heavens. The thoughts, desires, even intentions of someone could not define him. Indeed, even then, Cao Yun was unable to say for sure where each one of his thoughts was coming from. It meant that there was something deeper in his mind that those thoughts. They were just an emanation of several conflicting parts of his own mind and soul. The more he thought about it, the more he tended to agree with the idea that the soul was indeed separated in several independent parts.
But now, as he was in a world of blood, flesh and violence, the furthest world he could imagine from spiritual enlightenment, Cao Yun had just had another one. Maybe it was partly due to his Drop of Wrath.
Now his connection with this drop of blood was extremely strong; He could feel that he would soon make it his fully. Although he could control it almost as he wished, this was still something that did not completely belong to him. In other words, this was a foreign object in his body. Soon enough though, it would be an integral part of both his body and soul. Now he was certain that his mind cultivation would allow him to do so.
In the realm he was currently fighting, Cao Yun had finally understood what this bloodlust that had overtaken him was. This was pure killing intent mixed with blood. Even from Can Mouye, he had never felt such raw killing intent. In a way, it was very similar to the Drop of Wrath. The main difference was that there was no emotion in this killing intent, just the intense desire to kill. This was why Cao Yun had lost himself in it without his emotions going awry.
With this knowledge, he could dissipate it at any moment, but he didn't want to. First of all, it had pushed his blood cultivation to the paroxysm of what he could currently do. Even without 'Storms in the Crimson Furnace', Cao Yun could now feel his blood nourishing every single cell in his body. His blood was so rich, it could seep through his deepest tissues. In a sense, Cao Yun's body had become as transparent to blood as he was to Qi. Of course, his blood was still flowing through his veins, but much more than that now.
Beyond this, Cao Yun had also been able to finally condense all of his blood into his heart. Right now, it was still extremely painful as he could feel an intense pressure in his chest each time he did so. As such, he couldn't maintain this state for very long. But with time and effort, he would be able to keep it up long enough to perform the second part of 'Storms in the Crimson Furnace'. After 'Reducing the Five Sheng', there was 'Stoking the Human Flames'. He had to activate Fire Qi around his heart. And it was perfect because soon enough he would need to accumulate Fire Qi in his body in order to cultivate.
Indeed, right now Cao Yun was still working on opening his last of the Five Prodigious Gates. After that, he would need to forge them so that they could resist more and more Qi, and in particular, concentrated Fire Qi. Then, he would need to accumulate it in his Middle Dantian as he had accumulated Water Qi in his Lower Dantian.
It was however such a pity that he had not opened his last gate now. With all this blood around him, he could have forged his gates with extreme ease. Right now, Cao Yun was hoping to achieve even further breakthroughs. In a year, he could accomplish what average cultivators did in a decade. On the other hand, he could have died several times.
Indeed, Cao Yun had had his bones shattered several times. Even some of his organs had been pierced. His neck had been chewed on. But with the thick blood and the Drop of Wrath in him, Cao Yun could regenerate almost anything. And with this vast reserve of blood all around him, he could do so in record time and as many times as he wished for. However, until now, he had never had his limbs severed. Even he was not so sure he could repair such damage. Recreating tissues that had been damaged was not the same thing as recreating lost limbs or organs. At worst, he was confident in being able to reattach a lost limb, but not recreating it from scratch.
Seeing his current form, even the Palace Spirit was in awe. This boy's body was incredible. To be honest, Dian Mo had not really believed his story. But he could still not determine whether he was human or not. After all, he could barely feel meridians in him, maybe it had indeed been part of a disguise. And the spirit could not imagine a human being able to survive such wounds at that rate. Although human cultivators could improve their recovery, only demons could so completely heal thanks to their blood. Maybe a Spirit Warrior could have achieved such a feat, but the boy was way too young to be one. And if he were, he would have no need to lie at all.
Anyway, Dian Mo had already been interested in the boy. But now he was absolutely certain. Then he truly needed to prepare this body. Two months would not be necessary. As soon as the boy would seem to stagnate, he would send him in the second world. But the boy had not yet fully realized the terror of this realm of beasts.
-
Wang Jinhua finally woke up. In all honesty, she had been convinced that she would never do so again in this life. But apparently, Mo Zi had set up an array formation around her to help her recovery. At first, she was surprised. But then, she understood. There were only three of them including Neng Lue. Mo Zi probably needed all the help he could get.
Neng Lue was the first one to see Wang Jinhua wake up. Both women did not like each other very much. To be fair, no demonic cultivator harbored any meaningful feeling to one another. Because they were used to using humans as objects, they could only see human relationships as means to an end. As such they evaluated others according to what they could get out of them.
"Sister Wang."
"Sister Neng."
Although they were smiling to one another, they both had killing intents in their eyes.
"Girls! There is no time for your petty quarrels! Look there, Sister Wang."
The young woman wanted to rebuke Mo Zi's arrogance, but she stopped herself. Instead, she did look in the direction he was pointing. In the vacuum of space, there was a giant laceration.
"Apparently, by piercing this realm, you've let the void come inside of it. We don't know how long it will take but this very realm will collapse."
"Not only this realm... You see, my master has studied this Palace of Supreme Wisdom long enough to get a good understanding of its inner workings."
"It still didn't allow us to get inside without any problem."
Both women thought the same thing but only Neng Lue dared to speak, or rather, was reckless enough to do so. Of course, Mo Zi was not very pleased with her remark, mainly because she was right.
"This place is made of so many array formations woven together, we knew there were risks involved. Apart from my master though, no one could have even entertained the idea of sending us through. Anyway! All the realms are connected. And because we had to break the membrane protecting this one, not only will it collapse, it will probably influence the other ones. I can't be sure of what's going to happen, but all the borders of those realms will weaken. And that's our chance."
"What do you mean?"
"Instead of trying to establish connections with our brethren, we'll attack the very frontiers between the realms. Hence, we'll bring every single person in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom in one unique realm. We'll just have to find one another. In fact, it will be even easier for us to create a passageway toward the true palace."
"But we'll also have to face all the Wubei disciples."
"Hopefully our brothers and sisters did as Sister Neng and killed the Wubei disciples they met. As long as we're together, I do not think we're in any danger. However, you should remember two things. First of all, our mission is the priority! Killing the disciples will only be done if necessary. And even more importantly, Chen Guo is dangerous. If you meet him, do not engage alone. Hell, do not engage at all. Instead, try and lure him as far away as possible. If he could be in a completely different realm, this would be perfect for us."