"Well, I agreed to your conditions. Now, it's time for you to help me out."
"Of course, of course. This Da Mo's body is just another one grown from a drop of his blood and the life of every demon who got imprisoned in the Devil's Jail. As all the array formations of the Wubei Sect are connected, I know quite a lot about this Devil's Jail. And I can tell you that in order to get Da Mo's body out of the Devil's Jail completely, this Mo Tian will need to merge with it and forsake his own flesh. Until then, there is no way for the body to escape.
"And as long as it's still somewhat trapped in the Devil's Jail, there is one easy way to put an end to this."
"You want to activate the array formations of the Devil's Jail? Do you know how?"
"As a matter of fact I do. And the best part is that only you can do it and this Mo Tian probably has no idea it is even possible."
"What do you mean? He studied it for years maybe even decades."
"It doesn't matter. I studied it for several centuries. Trapped in the Demon Palace, I took every opportunity I had to see anything else. Since I could feel a connection with the Devil's Jail, I studied it until I got bored with it. There is no one else who knows it better than I do. And there are array formations in place in case of emergency. The demons who tried to resurrect Demon God Da Mo were completely unaware of those. In fact, I think that apart from the humans who built this array formation long before even Da Mo reached your little planet, no one ever knew about them.
"Then, the demons came and played around with this Devil's Jail. After them, other humans did. It's been trifled with by many. And it created many layers of array formations almost impossible to decipher. Only someone with nothing better to do for centuries could see through it. In fact, I've watched it at different points in time so I do claim that I am the best source of knowledge about this array formation.
"It turns out that to activate the one I have in mind, one requires a very powerful demon bloodline. That's when you come in!"
Cao Yun did not even try to refute that his blood was similar to a demon's. In fact, he was rather convinced that Axiu Qian was related to the demons in some capacity. Maybe he was just a very similar species, or maybe they shared a blood connection. Anyway, the provenance of his blood was not important. Just like demonic arts, what mattered was the usage, not the arts in themselves. Orthodox cultivators could use demonic weapons and demonic arts. What they couldn't do was use other human beings as resources for them.
For example, using 'Blood Runes' with demonic beast blood was perfectly fine. But using it with human blood was another matter entirely. In fact, Cao Yun had literally recovered a demonic weapon, his new 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar'. Many lives had been extinguished in extreme agonies for the weapon to be created. But that didn't mean that the weapon was evil. It meant that its creators were.
"So, just to be clear, to activate this array formation that will miraculously trap Da Mo's body under the Devil's Jail, my blood is needed. And thus, you expect me to go there and spill my blood right under the giant red arm that can fight off Sect Leader Xuan and all the chief elders at once. That's the gist of it?"
"More or less, yes."
"Maybe you just want me to get there so that you can enter Da Mo's body instead of Mo Tian."
"Oh, I would love that, but if I try to leave your sea of consciousness, I'm dead."
Indeed, Dian Mo was still chained with the Drop of Wrath's blood to the Nine Soul Peaks. There was no escape for him. If he did anything suspicious, Cao Yun would annihilate him in an instant.
"To show my sincerity, I know that an oath won't cut it. So what about some pieces of information. If you just open your mind, I can show it to you."
That was a lot to ask. To be fair, Cao Yun was rather certain he could keep Dian Mo under control at all times. But that didn't mean he wanted to take any chances. On the other hand, this giant arm would probably soon get free. If it did, it was obvious that no one would be able to stop it. Cao Yun hated that he had not all the facts in hands. He was forced to trust Dian Mo to an extent. And that was the one thing he couldn't do. Usually, Cao Yun liked to have as much information as possible to try and craft the best plan he could think of. Finding the right move for the right situation was great.
Right now, even though he was doubting Dian Mo's words, he was making preparations in his mind. With his 'Ashen Feather Seal', he could be almost invisible to all. But he had never tested it against a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Thankfully, Mo Tian was distracted, but that didn't mean it would work perfectly. However, if he could ask for Sect Leader Xuan's help, the chief elders could create a distraction at the perfect moment. Even Spirit Master Xiao could help out. She would be the best person for the job.
But he wasn't convinced himself. Besides, he had promised to never divulge Dian Mo's existence. So they would have to trust him at the very moment a traitor was threatening everything. Cao Yun could see Xiao Xuefeng trust him but he knew almost nothing about Sect Leader Xuan. Hopefully, Xiao Xuefeng could convince him.
Finally, Cao Yun let the chains loose a little bit, just enough for Dian Mo to send out some thoughts into his sea of consciousness. The entire Devil's Jail appeared. Each level was incredibly detailed. And all the array formations were also there. In fact, several Devil's Jails appeared. They were all the modifications introduced into the array formations over the centuries.
Despite his attainment in array formations, Cao Yun barely understood them. In fact, even Sun Liao would not have been able to. Apart from a select few, almost no array formation master could understand anything about them.
Then, Dian Mo showed exactly how Cao Yun had to activate the array formations to trap Da Mo's body in there.
"But this won't trap him all of a sudden. Your elders will still need to force it back. Most of its powers will be greatly reduced. However, it will still be powerful enough to kill a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior who's not careful."
Now that he had everything in mind, Cao Yun could see a way to do things. Although he could not talk about Dian Mo, he could still reveal what he had just told him. And it happened to be that a great array formation master was right in front of him. First, he would have to make sure that everything made sense.
"Chief Elder Suxian, please wait. I need your advice."
Considering the circumstances, Chief Elder Suxian almost disregarded Cao Yun's words. But he had just saved his life and Chief Elder Suxian knew he wouldn't delay him from helping the third-years without good reasons.
Cao Yun lost no time at all and explained everything about the Devil's Jail and how to activate the array formations to seal Da Mo's body back again. He even used his Qi to draw the schematics in the air. For a moment, Chief Elder Suxian forgot that he was just a Soul Embryo now. Everyone around was speechless when they heard that Mo Tian was trying to fuse with this abomination and that Cao Yun had a way of sealing it. Sun Liao also looked at the schematics but didn't understand anything at all.
Then he looked at his master. Chief Elder Suxian's face had a complicated look on it. Even he was struggling with deciphering the array formations even though he had also studied the Devil's Jail quite a lot. Those were the most complete schematics he had ever seen. In fact, he would have loved to study them for decades or even centuries. He would have died happy if he had been able to study them until his death.
There was no time though. He couldn't be sure but what Cao Yun had said made sense. As soon as he confirmed Dian Mo's words, this caused Cao Yun to think seriously about the plan. And he asked for his elders' help.
"Chief Elder Qinghe, can you contact Spirit Master Xiao for me?"
"This will be difficult since she's in the middle of a fight, but I can try."
"No need, Chief Elder."
Mei Hua took out a small talisman.
"My master gave me this artifact. If I inject my Qi in it, it will warn her that I am in danger. This should draw her attention, then, you should be able to speak with her without any problem, right?"
-
Xiao Xuefeng was indeed a bit overwhelmed by the battle. She had to coordinate the fifteen chief elders while keeping in touch with Sect Leader Xuan, using her martial arts, controlling the Seal of Authority, attacking Mo Tian's soul and defending against attacks toward her soul and mind. Her sea of consciousness was in complete turmoil right now.
Contrary to Chief Elder Suxian, she had reached the 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. Thus, her Soul Embryo and her soul were perfectly harmonized. She had only recently broken through. And it was a great advantage. Even before, her spiritual senses were the most powerful. But now they were even stronger. All those tasks could be performed without much problem. However, that didn't mean that it was easy. She had to stay focused at every second. There was no way of knowing whether she would have heard Chief Elder Qinghe's call. The man was very old and his own spiritual senses were not that developed. Or rather, he had focused on other aspects of his spiritual senses.
In the middle of the fight, Xiao Xuefeng heard an ominous note being played in her mind. She recognized it right away. This was a sign that her direct disciple was in danger. Immediately, she was able to locate her in the physician pavilion. It was rather close to the danger so Xiao Xuefeng was particularly alarmed. Given the circumstances, she could not do much to help her young disciple. Hopefully, this was something that could easily be dealt with. She might be able to find someone else to help her, an instructor or an elder maybe. In fact, she might even send Cao Yun to her. He would do everything to save his sister.
The moment she saw Mei Hua though, she realized that she was not in any danger at all. But she was not stupid. If Mei Hua had called for her attention in such a situation, it meant that it was an emergency. Besides, Cao Yun was there as well. The young boy heard a voice in his head.
"What's going on? If you can talk, just do it and I'll hear you. But if you can't..."
Before she could finish, Cao Yun recounted everything he had already told the group in front of him. Only then did Xiao Xuefeng realized that Chief Elder Suxian was freed from his rotting body. Like for Sun Liao, this was a nice and terrible news at once for the alchemist. It meant that his Soul Embryo had survived but also that he would never be able to go back within his body. His cultivation days were over. But that didn't mean he was going to be useless. Anyway, now was not the time to think about this.
"I understand the situation. I'll talk with Sect Leader Xuan."
Only an instant after her last message, the whole group heard Sect Leader Xuan in their heads.
"I heard everything. There is no time to lose. Chief Elder Suxian, I am deeply hurt by what happened to you. But we need you to go save the third-years. Chen Guo, if you had information on the Devil's Jail, maybe you might have some about the Palace of Supreme Wisdom that could help us. I won't ask you where those came from. Right now, we have other priorities.
"Chief Elder Suxian, leave at once to save those disciples and if anyone has any good idea, I'll send it to you. As long as you're within the Wubei Sect, Spirit Master Xiao and I can send you our thoughts without any problem.
"Chief Elder Qinghe and Elder Meng, keep up the good work. Unfortunately, we'll have many more wounded before this crisis is over. Spirit Master Xiao is also trying to coordinate the ground forces but doing so while fighting off the traitor is extremely hard. We'll try to send you reinforcements as soon as possible. I know that the physician pavilion is close to the fight but it's the best place to treat the wounded. Relocating the physician pavilion would take too much time and manpower that we don't have. My incompetence caused such a large revolt within our ranks...
"Chen Guo, I know that you're the one who suggested this plan, but it is extremely dangerous. No matter what level of stealth you have, we have no way of knowing whether the traitor will detect you by using Da Mo's body. If his soul is really fusing with it, his spiritual senses could get amplified as a result. We can't know that in advance. But without your help, we have no chance at all. I am ready to die to protect my sect, but even my sacrifice might not be enough. Please, help this old man."
"Of course, Sect Leader. I won't surrender in front of such a traitorous bastard. And he already tried to kill me many times. It's only natural that I return the favor."
Then, only Cao Yun heard the last words of Sect Leader Xuan.
"Boy, as soon as you are ready, we'll launch everything we have at Mo Tian. I've personally known your great-grandfather and I've met your father once. The Cao family truly produced many heroes. But we lost too many of them already. No matter what happens, value your own life. We old geezers can be replaced, not the young generation."
For an instant, Cao Yun was stunned. He knew that Xiao Xuefeng would never have revealed his identity. But Cao Yun wondered how long Sect Leader Xuan had known who he was? However, that didn't change a thing at all. Right now, everyone was threatened with death and Cao Yun had a plan and the help of all the Wubei Sect. For the moment, he would only focus on his mission and he would seal Da Mo's body and hopefully kill Mo Tian.