Hearing the voice of the Palace Spirit full of joy was extremely creepy. Cao Yun knew that this Dian Mo was preparing something. After seeing his transformation caused by the blood now flowing through his veins, it was certain he believed his story. And that had just made him more dangerous in Cao Yun's eyes. This Palace Spirit wanted something from Cao Yun. But he still didn't know what it was. Anyway, he had no way of resisting being transported elsewhere. But until the end, he would try to hide his mind cultivation. Against a spirit, a powerful body meant nothing, but his mind was an incredible tool. As such, he could flaunt his physical and martial prowess all he wanted. In fact, that would make the spirit even more comfortable.
As long as Dian Mo was convinced that Cao Yun's trump cards were mostly physical, he might become careless. Cao Yun needed all the edge he could get against that kind of enemy. If Xiao Xuefeng herself had not even been able to detect the Drop of Wrath and if she had praised his mind cultivation, the two of them combined would be quite enough to deal with that spirit. Cao Yun was certain of that and he was ready.
Just like what had happened when Cao Yun was still within the real tests of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, a powerful light enveloped him. Before he could open his eyes next, he felt that warm heat turn into a scorching inferno. The first sense that came back to Cao Yun was his ability to sense Qi around him. There was nothing but Fire Qi all around him. Even his soul was feeling the heat. It went all the way to his mind. In his very sea of consciousness, the air was getting blurry because of the temperature. The surface of the water also started to boil.
Without thinking about it, as an innate reflex, Cao Yun's Wei Qi contracted and intensified. Moreover, it began to change its nature, pouring more and more Water Qi within itself. Qi was always composed of the five elements, like most things in the Universe. But each aspect could be heightened or lessened. It was the ratio difference in each element that gave properties to objects, and to Qi as well. Although those elements had been chosen for spiritual and psychological reasons, they were still connected to the natural elements. For example, the Fire element represented ardor and heat both in the figurative and literal sense. And the Water element was soothing and calm like water.
Cao Yun's skin began to lower its temperature thanks to this layer of Wei Qi. Most of Cao Yun's heat focused inside as he was literally moving his blood to keep his body from heating up.
Indeed, he had finally realized where he was. All around him was molten lava. If he had been plunged in here before becoming a Mortal Warrior, his Wei Qi would have never been strong enough to resist at all. Maybe his body would have survived some time, but he would have died a terrible death in a very short amount of time.
Thanks to his denser Wei Qi, he could now savor his tortuous death for as long as he could produce Qi. Really, this was a step up...
One thing was sure though, Dian Mo would have not sent him in here just to die and be consumed by flames. After all, everything he was would be destroyed. Cao Yun was not even sure whether the Drop of Wrath would survive or not. And more importantly, Dian Mo had no way of knowing what kind of treasures Cao Yun had on him. Thus he had no reason to kill him in such a manner as to annihilate everything he was and had on him. So the only logical conclusion was that this was really another test and not an attempt on his life.
Fire was related to blood. For example, Cao Yun's blood cultivation made use of Fire Qi to temper blood essence. Given that the previous test was about blood, this new one didn't seem absurd to Cao Yun. However, he didn't want to try and absorb too much Fire Qi before becoming a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior. Indeed, until his Five Prodigious Gates were fully opened and then tempered, sending too much Fire Qi in his body was dangerous for his acupoints. Cao Yun was not about to risk his entire cultivation without any reason.
After the initial shock of the situation, Cao Yun began to think about more practical things. As much as he could breathe underwater, he had absolutely no way of breathing inside this lava. Even if there had been enough oxygen inside this lava, Cao Yun could simply not take it into his lungs. His flesh would be destroyed before the lava could even reach his lungs.
Thankfully, Cao Yun was now a 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior. According to the physicians, oxygen was essential to produce energy within the human body. But a cultivator could compensate the lack of oxygen through the use of Qi. The downside would be that Qi would be consumed faster. And in this environment, Cao Yun was not ready to absorb the Fire Qi all around him. Fortunately, he could still absorb small quantities, but he would be forced to limit himself so as to not burn his own acupoints. That being said, that would allow him to stop breathing for an extended period of time without consequences for his health. In the end though, he would really die of asphyxiation. Even with Qi, everything was not possible. Only a true Immortal could completely transcend the needs of a physical body. Even a Sage would need to eat, drink and breathe from time to time...
With all that in mind, Cao Yun focused on his cells and guided his Qi as well as tiny surges from the outside to try and keep his body alive for as long as possible. To be honest, even he didn't know how long he could go on. But that allowed him to relax a little and focus on what this test was supposed to be. He had not heard Dian Mo's voice, so he had no idea. Maybe it was just a way for him to improve his blood cultivation through the use of Fire Qi. But despite the blood in his veins, Cao Yun was a human, not a demon. As such, he had no real idea of how demons cultivated their blood. And right now, he could not perform 'Stoking the Human Flames'.
Despite that, Cao Yun had an idea. He could not absorb this Fire Qi because he had not tempered his Five Prodigious Gates yet. Then, he just had to temper his gates right now. Alchemy and blacksmithing had in common the use of fire to forge. An alchemist was using medicinal essences to forge a pill while a blacksmith would use metal to forge any artifact he could imagine.
When Cao Yun had been helping Ren Chao with his blacksmith slump, he had read a lot about blacksmithing. In the end, he had found it interesting but he had not been hooked up on the profession itself. He clearly preferred alchemy. However, both occupations shared a lot of things in common. And blacksmithing had helped him improve his alchemy. But it had also given him some ideas on how to temper his meridians and vessels. That was something that would happen very soon in his cultivation. If the Mortal Warrior realm was known as the Forge Realm, there were reasons for it.
In that realm, one would ultimately forge his meridians and vessels to resist the shock between Water and Fire Qi that would eventually produce the Soul Embryo. As such, Cao Yun had always kept the principles of blacksmithing in a corner of his mind. Those were the Seven Iron Transformations. Drawing the Palace and Fetching the Iron were useless to him. But Burning the Three Fires, Shaping the Earth, Freezing the Sky and Suffering the Seasons were very important. Finally, Unifying the World turned out to be essential. In theory, it only pertained to putting together all the different pieces of a weapon together. But upon reading more about it, Cao Yun had realized that it was about harmonizing all the different parts that had been worked on together.
For example, Cao Yun would temper each one of his Five Prodigious Gates separately. Even if he tried to do everything in the exact same manner, there would necessarily be differences. Those slight disparities could then cause harm to his body. Thus, he had to make sure to harmonize them all together. As such, this last principle would be very important.
Combining all the principles of alchemy, blacksmithing and array formations together, Cao Yun was hoping to achieve the best form of breakthrough.
-
Outside of the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, all the chief elders were now gathered. After hearing the conclusions of Chief Elder Suxian, Spirit Master Xiao Xuefeng had asked for everyone's presence.
Chief Elder Yisheng was the first one to talk.
"Are you sure about this, Brother Suxian?"
"There is no way I was mistaken. I checked several times and someone has clearly broken through the veil of the realms within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. I do not know how they did it, but they did. And almost two months ago..."
"What?! Two months?! And you only noticed just now?! What happened?!"
"I do not know... But someone within has been messing with the array formations. It almost collapsed for an instant. If I had to make a bet, I would say that a remnant of the array formation spirit protected it. Otherwise, it would have crumbled already."
"Is this a joke?! You were the one who should have sensed that, right?! You're the best array formation master and yet..."
"Sister!" Chief Elder Luoming raised his voice.
Everyone was surprised because Chief Elder Luoming, even after becoming in charge of the disciplinary pavilion, had always been really laid-back. But in his voice just now, everyone heard more than just irritation.
"No one here was able to detect anything. Do not try to blame it on my brother!"
"It's fine... I did fail you all. Considering all the time I spent studying this Palace of Supreme Wisdom, I should have been able to sense any difference and I failed. I am sorry."
"There's no time for self-flagellation, Brother Suxian."
As she spoke, Xiao Xuefeng took out the Seal of Authority.
"Sect Leader Xuan is still busy repairing the damage caused by the recent stampede. As such, he put me in charge of everything here. In a sense, I'm the one responsible. But in a broader sense, we are all responsible. So instead of losing our time pointing fingers, we should find a way to solve the problem. Brother Suxian, do you have any ideas?"
Chief Elder Yisheng stopped talking the moment she saw the Seal of Authority. But others were not so easily convinced.
"But what if you're really a demonic cultivator? After all, you're the only outsider among us! We've all demonstrated our competence and fidelity to the Wubei Sect to reach our current position. But you're not even from our Wubei Sect!"
"Fighting between us won't solve anything!"
"And following the orders of a demonic cultivator would doom us all!"
"Sect Leader Xuan put her in charge. If he trusts her, I do too!"
"Come on! We all know the old man is slowly starting to lose it."
As Chief Elder Liu spoke, Chief Elder Baishen slapped her in the face.
"How dare you speak like that of our Sect Leader?!"
"You...!"
"If you keep distilling doubt and fear, your head will be put in front of my pavilion as a cautionary tale. Even if you're not a demonic cultivator yourself, you're clearly making their life easier by sawing discord between us. And if I have to be the voice of reason, there's something very wrong here!"
"This is quite enough!"
Xiao Xuefeng took over. Strangely, Chief Elder Baishen's words had calmed down the situation.
"My fellow cultivators, the skepticism of some of you is understandable. After all, we all know that a Spirit Warrior demonic cultivator is within our ranks. Although he could be a mere elder, there's also the possibility that he is a chief elder. And this is why Sect Leader Xuan put me in charge. Sister Liu, I do own the Seal of Authority. You do realize that with it, I could activate all the defenses of the Wubei Sect against you all. Although I wasn't here when the stampede occurred, I know that you saw some of those defenses. How long do you think you would survive if I were to activate them?"
Everyone stayed silent. Even Sect Leader Xuan would probably not fare well against all the defenses of the Wubei Sect. And with the Seal of Authority, she could indeed activate them all in an instant. With a mere thought, she could almost kill everyone here. Besides, she was also the expert in terms of spiritual senses. That also meant that she could attack their minds and souls without breaking a sweat.
If Xiao Xuefeng truly was a traitor, they would probably all be dead or worse by now.
"Whether you trust me or not is of no importance. Sect Leader Xuan put me in charge. If that is not enough for you, you have no reason to remain in the Wubei Sect! I already demoted one chief elder who could not control himself, do not think I would shy away from doing it twice! The demonic cultivators are ahead of us. We do not even know what they want. In fact, we know so little it is pathetic. But right now, our disciples are in danger. This is not the time to quarrel among each other. Unless you have any kind of proof, you will not accuse anyone of being a traitor, and you will follow my orders!"
As she spoke, the Seal of Authority in her hand began to shine brightly.
All the chief elders bowed. Even Chief Elder Liu calmed down and bowed.
"Brother Suxian, what do you need?"
"I just need some time. I'll go look at it from up close."