Now that everything was coming together, Cao Yun decided to focus on his mental preparation. Unfortunately, he had not yet formed the Horn Constellation, but he had had very few opportunities to have a real fight with his spear. Hopefully, he would have some time to spar with General Yun once everything was over. Whether he was successful or not, Cao Yun would have no reason to hide that he was Chen Guo anymore. His Qi cultivation was extremely stable and his Five Prodigious Gates were almost on the verge of reaching their full potential, but he wasn't fully there yet. Anyway, it wouldn't make much of a difference.
In fact, Cao Yun had essentially advanced his understanding of alchemy, of array formations and his mind cultivation. Indeed, the aspect he had spent the most time was his mind cultivation as it was the crux of all his plans.
After getting inside the secluded room of the Major Hall, Cao Yun immediately activated some array formation he had already set up. Since he had come to Qingyun City, this room had been exclusively his. Thus, he had many things prepared in there. Among them were array formations meant to help him cultivate. And this one was Center of All Things. Inside this array formation, all the elements were perfectly balanced and Cao Yun was isolated from any turbulence outside. This was a very good array formation to focus on his mind and soul. Right now, he was completely absorbed in his sea of consciousness.
As soon as he got within, he saw that around his Po character the bone-like fragments were spinning faster than ever. Those fragments were the Po of Jing he had extracted from his very corporeal soul. Inside his Drop of Wrath, the same phenomenon could be witnessed as well. And beneath it all, Dian Mo was observing. As a matter of fact, he was absolutely amazed by this mind cultivation Cao Yun was practicing. Coupled with the Drop of Wrath, it was extremely powerful. But even without it, it was insanely smart. Whoever had written it had been some kind of genius. Dian Mo could not stop himself from imagining what would have happened if the demons had had this mind cultivation back then...
From his mind cultivation, Cao Yun activated everything. His Five Agents were surrounded by the flames of Shen the Fire Spirit and it made Yi the Earth Intent shine brighter. A golden light came out of it and was focused on Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. But this wasn't all. Even the Nine Soul Peaks began to shine as well. They became bright as though a silver light was shining on them. All around them, the roots of the world tree also seemed to let out a peaceful green hue full of vitality.
With all this light, Dian Mo decided to move to another spot in order to see everything in details. After leaving from the enclosure of the Nine Soul Peaks, Dian Mo saw that the Drop of Wrath was at the very center of all those lights. It was as though it was bending space and making everything go to it. Right now, it was the absolute center of Cao Yun's soul.
Before long, the Po characters began to unravel. Piece by piece, filament by filament, Cao Yun was extracting small parts of his Po of Jing. And at the same time, the Po character within the Drop of Wrath was reacting accordingly. But the filaments were always a bit different. With each once of them, Cao Yun was feeling a powerful anger course through his veins. Along with those filaments were both feelings and memories attached to them.
As the two Po characters were more connected than ever, Cao Yun could feel some of Axiu Qian's anger and wrath. It was way beyond everything Cao Yun could imagine. And these were just remnants of broken memories. If Cao Yun had had to feel the raw fury of Axiu Qian, he would have gone insane with blood lust and killing intent. Even the blood beasts he had fought seemed more tame and docile in comparison. Although he didn't know everything, Cao Yun had seen that Axiu Qian's life had begun as a slave and later on, everything he had ever known was taken from him. He could imagine the level of wrath he had reached. In his last moments, he had forgone any kind of rationality. Maybe it was why his Flying Poison had been able to endure despite all the other parts of his soul being burned away.
Dian Mo was quite amazed with the process because it was similar to things he knew but still very different at the same time. Right now, he was dying to grill Cao Yun for more details, but he didn't want to disturb him. Then he realized his thought. Yes, he sincerely didn't want to disturb the young man and he had no ulterior motive behind it. Hell, was he really growing too fond of this human brat?!
As the sensations were very profound, Cao Yun took all the time he could to experience them. After more than three days, he finally left his meditation. He had quickly progressed in his mind cultivation as the cloud of bone surrounded his Po character was beginning to condense. It looked like the beginning of a solar system with the Po character as the star. Slowly, a new character was being produced, this would be Cao Yun's Po of Jing, the sane version of the Flying Poison.
"Hey boy, your mind cultivation is almost identical to the Accomplished Demon realm, the equivalent of the Spirit Warrior realm. Some call it 'Conquering the Seven Demons'. But unlike yours, the point is to allow the Po to degenerate. By cultivating the bad aspects of those souls, the demons form some kind of strange inner demon they have to keep under check. During the process, each Turbid Demon is chained down. In the end, they are fused together. Of course, they fight it till the end and the demon cultivator has to use all of their will to force them into one singular soul, the Demon Soul. And finally, they completely trap it within their own heart."
"Interesting. So this 'Subdue the Seven Demons' seems to be a more peaceful way of forming one's Demon Soul. But would it really work? What makes the Demon Soul powerful seems to be its savage nature."
"Probably not, indeed. However, it could allow a demon to keep his Po under control with a lot more ease. By getting to know your own soul, creating inner demons and chaining them down would be way easier. Just like humans, some demons can spend a century in this realm. But if their soul had already been trained like that, I could see it being done in a third or even a fourth of the time. Instead of using brute will, one could use their very soul to tame the inner demons. Not only would it be easier and faster, it would also be more durable. Demons have to be careful all the time that their own inner demons don't rebel against them. Besides, they influence their mood a lot."
"I see..."
That also meant that Cao Yun would probably be able to progress in his asura cultivation faster than most other demons. That was very useful information. According to his plans, Cao Yun would get a great opportunity very soon. He might research the 'Crimson Inferno Road' a bit more first. And since his relation with Dian Mo seemed to progress nicely, he could simply ask him to give him some books on the matter.
-
Later, Qinghe Ming came to visit Cao Yun. He had a bright smile on his face.
"Esteemed patron, I have great news for you!"
"If it is about the sales of my pills, I don't mind. I have other pills I'd like your Major Hall to appraise and sell for me. I don't need them all to be auctioned. You can sell the low quality pills and try to increase the price on the others through small auctions. I don't really care one way or the other as long as I make at least a hundred taels of gold of profit with them. Instead of giving me the money, just pay for the ingredients I bought and the ones I will buy in the future."
As he spoke, Cao Yun showed around twenty pills of varying quality. Cao Yun had only kept a handful for his own usage. Of course, Qinghe Ming took his words very seriously but Cao Yun could tell that he truly had some great news as his smile had not left his face. Thus, he began to grow curious.
"Sorry to have interrupted you, what is it?"
"Venerable alchemist, it was difficult but I've been able to locate an Eternal Frostfire Fir. It should be on its way to our Major Hall right now. Thanks to the auctions you've tasked me to perform, my influence grew a bit and I've been able to ask some favors from a few branches of our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. However, the buyer does want to auction it off. The first price should be around twelve taels but I still need to have the Eternal Frostfire Fir appraised to be sure. The buyer assures me though that it is of utmost quality so it should be very useful to you, whatever it is you want it for."
As soon as he said that, Qinghe Ming heard that it could be misconstrued so he tried to backpedal a little.
"Not that you have to tell us what you want to do with it of course. Our Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall is very happy with your patronage, we wouldn't dare..."
"Thank you for your service. You've expertly handled everything I asked of you and every piece of information I got from you turned out to be exact. You don't have to act so subservient with me. If I am offended, I will not hold back to tell you firsthand."
"Of course, esteemed patron. It might have been bold of me, but I already asked for the Eternal Frostfire Fir to be delivered to our Major Hall. We should be able to auction it off during the next session."
This immediately reminded Cao Yun of the rumors about the True Essence pill Jiahe Ruo had been spreading. Maybe it could serve a purpose. Cao Yun needed the Eternal Frostfire Fir for some powerful pill he had in mind. It might even help Hongyu, but to be honest, it was for him first. After all, Hongyu seemed to be just fine for now. Thanks to his understanding of both Evil Qi and seals, Cao Yun was confident he would be able to deal with her evil core in a matter of years. Until then, she simply had to abstain from using it too much. And her forming fifth core would even balance it out thanks to the influence of the Drop of Wrath within.
"By the way, I failed to ask. But did you hear the rumors about one of my pills being auctioned off in the coming week?"
"Esteemed guest, I can assure you that we had nothing to do with it. I don't even know this rumor came to be..."
"No need to panic. I heard it from Jiahe Ruo. But I thought that it could be a good idea to make the rumor a fact. I know that this province isn't as rich as others."
From Cao Yun's spatial ring, another pill appeared and went toward Hall Master Qinghe. This was a 2-star Human True Essence pill, an Autumn and Springs Reviving pill. Such a pill was useful for alleviating mental fatigue. In fact, Cao Yun intended to use it himself to improve his mind cultivation. But it would be a good bait as well. Considering the Heart Locking Fire Pact within Xue Rui's heart, he might want this pill an awful lot. Even if Cao Yun's plan was reaching fruition, he would do everything he could to improve his chances to the very end.
"Changing our auction so late will be a bit difficult, but if this is your desire, this can be done."
"I want you to auction it off indeed. But I'll be the one to buy it."
"What?!"
Buying off his own pill might be a bit absurd. However, Cao Yun didn't care about money at all. No matter what he paid, he would have to give a small percentage to the Major Hall but he would receive the rest back. Thus it wouldn't cost him much. Through this trick, he would however gain something money couldn't buy...
Sensing that his guest was absolutely serious, Hall Master Qinghe decided not to press him on the matter.
"Sir, everything will be done according to your will. In the next auction, you'll be able to obtain the Eternal Frostfire Fir, and we'll auction off this pill."
Qinghe Ming did take care of everything. In his mind, there was no doubt that Cao Yun would buy everything he wanted during the auction. The Major Hall had decided on the date because it was soon before the competition announced by Governor Jiahe. As such, there would be more people than usual in town. But it wasn't too soon that all the alchemists were not cooped up preparing for it.
Instead of staying in the Major Hall, Cao Yun left one last time in order to complete his array formations. If he wasn't wrong, Di Xihe would give her the location of Gu Song's laboratory. However, he wouldn't be able to use her as a spy later on. That was a shame. Her technique was very interesting and useful, but he was certain that he couldn't learn it. Otherwise, he would have done so before the end.
Using his 'Ashen Feather Seal', Cao Yun got very close to the Xue residence. In fact, he even walked through several array formations. Some were too old for him to completely bind them to his will in a short amount of time, even with Dian Mo's assistance. But he had still been able to mess around with them. In time, the defenses of the Xue family would all be used by him, just like Mo Tian had tried to use the array formations of the Wubei Sect against its own disciples.
Marching in, he saw the building Di Xihe had pointed to him. With his senses, he could detect traces of Evil Qi. It was obvious that there were protections to prevent people to detect Gu Song's presence. Even as he was so close to it, Cao Yun couldn't pinpoint where his enemy was. He was so close and yet Cao Yun knew he couldn't attack now. A single misstep would cause his death. In another building, Cao Yun could feel Xue Rui's presence because of the black flame within him. The alchemist was clearly cultivating some form of demonic method.