The fiery bird stayed high in the sky and spat some of his own blood. A literal rain of boiling blood poured over Cao Yun. This blood was almost like acid. But Cao Yun did not wait to be struck by it.
'Crafty Harassment'.
Cao Yun's figure faltered and he slithered around the blazing drops of blood. A blue aura reminiscent of the Azure Dragon was all over the place. From the sky, the Five Bloods Pheasant was able to vaguely see the shape of the Azure Dragon's constellation in Cao Yun's movement. But it was always shifting and moving around. Instead of stars though, this constellation was formed with attacks.
Each time Cao Yun stopped for even an instant, he threw several 'Dragon's Twin Horns' toward his enemy. They were not powerful enough to injure him too much, but they were still assaulting his weak spots. As such, the Five Bloods Pheasant was forced to move around as well, disrupting his own attack.
Unfortunately, Cao Yun understood that he could not beat this opponent in such a way. Even with the concealment, he couldn't show his full might. The array formation was just too weak to resist the onslaught of both Cao Yun and the beast's attacks. Cao Yun had been ready on the ground with some array formations and even a bit of poison. But the Five Bloods Pheasant was not stupid, he was staying high in the sky. As such Cao Yun's attacks were either unable to reach him or not powerful enough to kill him straight away.
Because he was the one who had caused his ire, Cao Yun had to be the one to put an end to it. However, even if he jumped toward him, Cao Yun could not control his movements in the air. The Five Bloods Pheasant would just move out of the way and Cao Yun's attack would be useless. But it was too soon to give up right now. Hopefully, the fiery bird would waste his strength and give Cao Yun the opportunity he was waiting for.
As the human had understood the situation, the Five Bloods Pheasant had too. He could see that his opponent had no way of reaching him that could truly put him in danger. Thus, he could just stay at a safe distance and bombard him with powerful attacks. The rage was blinding the Five Bloods Pheasant who had already wasted some of his blood for nothing, just to make Cao Yun move around.
Around the Five Bloods Pheasant's body, flames appeared. All of his feathers seemed to come to life. Each one looked like a tongue of fire. But each one had a slightly different color. In this colorful inferno, the Five Bloods Pheasant was opening fully opening his huge wings. Then, he suddenly tensed up and closed himself up. As he did, all the flames rained down toward the ground.
This time, Cao Yun had no time to dodge as the area was just too large for him to get out of harm's way.
'Imperial Throne'!
Spinning his spear around, a small vortex was formed around Cao Yun. The flames falling toward him were sucked into this vortex. However, they were not dispersed at all. To the contrary, they began to force this vortex to close toward Cao Yun himself who was at its center.
'Dragon's Chest'!
Stabbing his spear into the ground, Cao Yun intensified his Wei Qi. An armor made of blue dragon scales manifested around the young man. In particular, Cao Yun protected his Bai Hui. In the sky, the Five Bloods Pheasant could feel that Cao Yun was putting more emphasis on the summit of his skull. Although he was not as knowledgeable as humans, he could instinctively feel that Cao Yun had an old injury there. This was the perfect spot to attack!
The truth was that Cao Yun's Bai Hui was in theory completely healed. But the young man was still a bit afraid. Almost losing his ability to progress his cultivation had taken a toll on him. Although his mind cultivation had prevented the creation of an inner demon, Cao Yun was close to such a state. There was still a psychological trauma. During his meditation, he could forget it with his mind cultivation, but it really wasn't a good thing to do. He had to get over it himself if he wanted his cultivation to be stable. That was one of the reasons why he had devoted most of his cultivation time to the 'Crimson Inferno Road'.
As he was trapped into the flames, Cao Yun saw a flashback of the lava ocean he had been in when his Bai Hui was hurt. Despite the fight around him, Cao Yun was thus forced to activate his mind cultivation just to fend off his past trauma.
Cao Yun was almost certain he could end this fight fairly quickly if he used a full Qi Manifestation. Besides, he had prepared a few array formations and some poisons on the ground. If the Five Bloods Pheasant got too close to it, he would have absolutely no chance. But he was probably going to try to kill Cao Yun before doing that. Despite his rage, he had not gone blind.
The Five Bloods Pheasant saw that his attack was having some effect as Cao Yun had stopped moving around and was focusing on defense. Thus, he pressed on and increased the flames. Of course, Cao Yun could persevere a long time, but it wasn't optimal for him. He had to snap out of it right away!
The very moment he thought that, Cao Yun heard a familiar screech in the distance. He didn't even have to look to know that it had come from Hongyu. The two of them were connected. And before leaving, he had told her something. As much as he didn't want to involve her in his fight, it would also be a good opportunity for her. Hopefully, Cao Yun could take care of the Five Bloods Pheasant and also keep the other two 6-core demonic beasts calm.
The Blood Boiling Fenghuang was flying with all her speed toward Cao Yun. She was even faster than the Five Bloods Pheasant. Although she was flying high in the sky, the shockwave was still affecting the forest below. Thankfully, she wasn't destroying everything on her path, but many small animals died in her wake. Right now, she was only focused on getting to Cao Yun in time. What would have taken the young man several hours to cross on foot took her a handful of minutes.
Unfortunately, she was only a 4-core demonic beast and was no threat at all for a 6-core one like the Five Bloods Pheasant. However, Cao Yun knew that he was going to kill his opponent thanks to her!
As soon as Cao Yun saw Hongyu, obviously the Five Bloods Pheasant did too. When they crossed eyes, something happened within them. Both were from two different lineages but they were related to legendary fiery birds, the True Fiery Fenghuang and the Dawn Vermilion Bird. As such, there was some form of bond between them. However, it was akin to an eternal rivalry as the True Fiery Fenghuang was known as the ruler of all birds while the Dawn Vermilion Bird boasted to be superior even to him.
Now, Hongyu was right in front of the fiery bird she had sensed. His rage was almost palpable around him as he was still covered in flames that were pouring down toward Cao Yun. On the ground, there was a literal tornado of fire, a firestorm that was focusing on Cao Yun and slowly constricting him. From afar, it looked almost like a tornado made of thousands of multi-colored feathers. It was very gorgeous. But upon seeing it, one would sense the unbearable heat. Despite that, Cao Yun was still fine under the dragon scale armor manifested around him.
His Scorched Earth Embers had been completely destroyed by the raging inferno. Luckily, it was also hiding Cao Yun's martial arts.
The two birds were rather similar considering their lineage. But they were two worlds apart as Hongyu only had four cores, one of which was tainted with Evil Qi, while the Five Bloods Pheasant had six of them and was almost ready to form a seventh one. That was the difference between an early Mortal Warrior and a half-step Spirit Warrior. Hongyu was indeed theoretically on Cao Yun's level, but she had no martial art and no weapon, just her bloodline and her cores. Even then, she couldn't use her fourth core without risking her life. Anyway, Cao Yun would have never risked her life for nothing and she knew it. She trusted him completely.
The bond between the two demonic beasts was not a good thing in this context. In fact, this seemed to fuel the rage of the Five Bloods Pheasant even more. Maybe he felt threatened by Hongyu somehow. No matter what the reason was, he immediately turned hostile toward her. After all, Hongyu had clearly the stench of humans. And the Five Bloods Pheasant even sensed the touch of the human down below. So of course, he was not very pleased with her arrival. In fact, he believed that the human had stolen his Hellish Dragon Fruit for her.
All the flames he was directed toward Cao Yun ceased to pour down. Instead, the Five Bloods Pheasant flapped his wings and the firestorm around the young man rose into the air. Then, he hurtled it toward Hongyu without any hesitation.
Cao Yun had been able to resist the flames thanks to his cultivation and his martial arts but he wasn't sure whether Hongyu could withstand it at all. Even if she could, it might upset the evil core within her which would be very bad for her health even if she survived. Hopefully, Cao Yun's makeshift seal would endure.
'Dragon's Tail Sweeps the Sky'!
With his 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar', Cao Yun swept in the direction of the air between the two birds. He tried to time it so that his attack would disrupt the firestorm. His spear turned into a river of stars in his very hands. When he swept with it, it was as if the river had overflown and splashed toward the empty space he was targeting. At the very moment it reached the target, the firestorm passed at that spot. A large portion of the fire was put out right then. Unfortunately, a still relatively large portion of it passed through. Besides, the Five Bloods Pheasant even added his own fires to it as a second wave.
Hongyu was incredibly fast but she had just come here with all her speed. She reacted a bit too late and it was difficult for her to change her course so suddenly. As such, she was engulfed in the firestorm. All the fiery feathers struck her directly and the heat increased so fast that the air all around her distorted. It even caused some form of vacuum and Hongyu could not breathe air any longer.
Despite Cao Yun's worries, he couldn't sense any danger on Hongyu. The heat itself did not affect her at all and she kept flying through the shock of the firestorm. Although the winds were trying to threw her off, she was able to keep going forward. She closed off her wings completely and flew toward Cao Yun like she was an arrow shot out of the firestorm. This time, she was fast enough so that the Five Bloods Pheasant's second wave barely touched her.
As Hongyu got closer to Cao Yun, he understood what she wanted to do. Since he was stuck on the ground, Cao Yun could not beat this demonic beast. But if he was riding Hongyu, he had a very good chance of taking him down for good. Without any hesitation, Cao Yun jumped toward Hongyu and got on her back.
As soon as he was on her back, Cao Yun decided to feel her evil core to make sure everything was safe. What he felt was that Hongyu was using all of her cores except the evil one. It was still well under control. However, he could also feel that it was trying to get more and more active.
Now that he was on Hongyu's back, Cao Yun could finally launch a real counter-offensive against the Five Bloods Pheasant. He didn't like putting Hongyu in danger as he had been the cause of her parents' death. But she was his only chance to resolve this conflict without exposing himself. Besides, she would also gain a lot from it.
Without even talking or directing Hongyu, she did exactly as Cao Yun wished. Indeed, she could sense the flow of Qi in him and knew what he was about to do. After all, they had shared their Qi for a very long time considering that Cao Yun had been operating on her evil core. By now, they were almost like brother and sister, adding to it the fact that Hongyu felt as though Cao Yun was part of her family and Cao Yun was feeling guilty for her parents' death.
'Fish in the Galaxy'!
Before the Five Bloods Pheasant could react, Cao Yun had thrown his spear toward him. When it crossed the space between them, there were ripples in the air. Although there was no water at all, the air itself behaved as though it were. As if a giant serpent with a few fins were swimming in the air, ripples spread throughout the sky. Finally, when the spear reached its destination, 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' pierced through the fiery bird's left wing as it was trying to dodge.
Despite a scream of pain, the fiery bird was not disheartened. Now, the human had lost his weapon and the female bird was fast but not strong enough to fight against him. He just had to get to them quickly.
Another scream echoed from the Five Bloods Pheasant. All of his feathers began to shake and tremble under the vibration of his throat. Behind him, his tail separated into five large streams of what looked like blood but was in fact liquid fire. Those five tails went all around Hongyu in order to trap her. Although she was fast, those tails were so long that they were able to block her path before she even attempted to move around. By the time she got where she wanted to go, it would be too late.
At the same time, Cao Yun was controlling his Qi to get his weapon back. Unfortunately, as he wasn't using his entire Bai Hui yet, his control was not strong enough. His spear had halted its course but it would take too long for it to come back to him. There was a thin string of Qi linking him to his weapon. If only he could use his Bai Hui fully, he could tense this string even more and get his weapon faster.
This wasn't necessary though, Cao Yun was now certain that he had won this fight after injuring the Five Bloods Pheasant.