Now that he had found and isolated those seals, Cao Yun could get to work. He had to admit that they were very impressive. They reminded him of some seals Dian Mo had created in order to deceive him when they were playing around. There were seals within seals. Some were fake but looked real while others were real but looked fake. Besides, those were completely merged with the Slavery Brand. Whoever had imagined such seals had a very thorough understanding of those Slavery Brands.
There was absolutely no doubt that those had been created by an Accomplished Demon. Besides, it wasn't just any other Accomplished Demon. That person had a very good understanding of this craft. Of course, compared with Dian Mo, it was child's play. Still, it took Cao Yun some time to get rid of all of those seals without doing anything to harm Xixue.
In the meantime, the former slaves were pillaging the caravans. Unfortunately, Cao Yun couldn't let them use the caravans because he didn't want any evidence of what had happened to exist. However, taking the provisions within was not a problem at all. They even took a bit of money, but left most of it for Cao Yun. After all, without him, they would suffer a fate worse than death. All of them highly preferred risking their lives in the desert rather than becoming slaves, especially if they were handled by Boss Gui.
Her reputation was known throughout the Desolate Sepulcher. Even among demons, that woman was absolutely monstrous. In her eyes, anything was justified by the profit she could make. Thus, she had the image of a pure sadist enjoying inflicting horrendous pain on her slaves, and anyone who got in her way.
In a mere decade, she had risen to the status of city lord, yet people still called her Boss Gui. After all, she had started as just another thug. But one day, she had usurped the power and killed the previous city lord. Of course, she was a bit paranoid about others attempting the same stunt. But her power seemed very firm thanks to her vast fortune and her strong ties with the Xinian Confederation and Lord Wanghuo.
It took Cao Yun more than a day to unravel all the seals within Xixue's soul and flesh. Obviously, this surprised the other demons. After all, he had easily dealt with their Slavery Brand. Thus, they imagined that they were talking about some serious issues. And they were right in some way.
"This is done. Apart from those marks in your bones, all of your seals are gone. Now, you can speak freely. And don't worry, whoever put those seals in you will not be informed of their disappearance. I made sure of that. Most likely, they will imagine that you were killed along with those wretched slavers."
Of course, they could still recognize her face and sense her blood. But as long as they were not actively looking for her, Xixue should be fine. Besides, Cao Yun had also other countermeasures in mind. For now though, he simply wanted to learn more about Xixue. To be honest, he had a soft spot for them, just because she had done terrible things in order to find her little sister. As much as he was condemning her internally, he could see she was coming from. So he kept an open mind, as much as he could.
After an entire day of feeling Cao Yun's spiritual senses actively messing with her body and soul, Xixue was exhausted. However, she didn't rest. Although her feelings were a bit all over the place, she decided to trust Cao Yun. Considering what he had just achieved, he might really be her best and only chance. If only she had met him sooner. But then, she might not have had enough to negotiate with him then. Now, she had.
"Thank you. I swear that I will repay this kindness you've done to me. The truth is that I was working for another City Lord to infiltrate Boss Gui's forces. I've been trained in administration and economics as well as politics. All of this was meant to make me a great asset for Boss Gui. Surely, she would have kept me around instead of selling me. And with time, I would have gained access to more privy information."
"You wanted to find where your little sister was. And the City Lord whom you served wanted to get more detailed information on Boss Gui's business, I imagine."
"Indeed, he is City Lord Sihe. Unlike Boss Gui, he's ruled his city for more than a century. He is one of the oldest city lords in fact. Originally, he was the richest of them all and had political ties with almost everyone, including of course the Xinian Confederation. Unfortunately for him, the war waged by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy changed everything. At first it was slow, but he can feel his power shake.
"City Lord Sihe's main business was slave trading. Because the Empyrean Asura needed many demons for his army, he turned to our Desolate Sepulcher for cannon fodders. At first, City Lord Sihe was his first seller. But then, Boss Gui was able to surpass him. Although she had fewer slaves, she was able to train much better fighters. No one really knows how she achieved it, but instead of counting on quantity, she insisted on quality. Many slaves died during her secret training. But those who survive value way more than any slave City Lord Sihe could provide."
"So she took his market and rose to prominence. I get the picture."
The seals he had seen in Xixue made a lot of sense now. This Sihe was obviously well versed in seals, and in particular in that Slavery Brand. He had dealt with slaves for more than a century at this point. Obviously, his knowledge of seals was way better than most.
Everything he was hearing reminded him of Axiu Qian. He had also been enslaved and turned into a great fighter. In the end, the fighter had killed his own masters and took his freedom. But that had always left some deep scars in him.
"City Lord Sihe is the one who manufactures almost all Slavery Brands used by other demons. Thanks to that, he kept his business running. After all, people in the Nalupu Kingdom don't necessarily need warrior slaves. Thus, he still retains the local market. However, he obviously fears that Boss Gui might take it as well since she's always expanding. The war on the main continent won't last forever so she needs to ensure her profit will keep coming."
"That explains a lot, indeed."
"I tried to enlist City Lord Sihe's help because I knew of his rivalry with Boss Gui. Of course, he also knew about my little sister. So he trusted me enough to become a spy for him. Of course, he still put a lot of seals in my body."
"What about those marks on your bones?"
"They are meant to improve my blood cultivation. To be honest, it shouldn't speed it up too much, but I will need that strength if I want to save my little sister. In my opinion, City Lord Sihe was the only one who could get me close to Boss Gui and then erase my sister's Slavery Brand. That was until I met you of course..."
As she spoke, Cao Yun reexamined the marks on her bones he had memorized. In his mind, he had a perfect duplicate of her body. Now that he knew what they were meant to be, he could see it a bit more clearly. Yes, those marks would be beneficial for training one's marrow. But they would also be harmful in the long run. It made a lot of sense in fact. This would allow City Lord Sihe to create a powerful servant while making sure that she would never become too powerful either. The more she would progress, the more those marks would hinder her cultivation.
To be fair, without them, she might not reach a very high cultivation stage anyway. From his analysis, she had hope of becoming an 1st-grade Accomplished Demon in less than twenty years thanks to those marks. But she would probably not go much farther than that as her very essence would be damaged by the violence of the method. Instinctively, Cao Yun was trying to find ways to fix it.
In his mind, he wasn't thinking about Xixue at all. She had made her decision, and becoming an Accomplished Demon was a very good result. No, he was trying to find ways to use it to his advantage. If those marks were helpful to increase one's blood cultivation, he might try to make use of them somehow. Although he wouldn't go to the extent of damaging his bones like she had, he might still find interesting things he could incorporate in his own blood cultivation.
While he was thinking about many things, Cao Yun saw Xixue kowtow in front of him.
"Lord Mo, I beg you. Please, let me join you. I know tht you're a stranger to the Xinian Confederation. In fact, I think that you're a stranger to our Desolate Sepulcher. Without someone who has enough contacts, you won't easily be accepted in the Nalupu Kingdom. But with my help, I can create a legitimate identity for you to use. What I ask in exchange is that you help me save my little sister. I know this is a lot, but I can assure you that I will prove myself to you. If you do not trust me, feel free to use any kind of seal on me."
Unfortunately, what she said made a lot of sense to the young man. If he just appeared out of the blue in the Nalupu Kingdom, he would be under a lot of scrutiny. In fact, he might even be attacked. As a Golden Blood Child, he wouldn't resist long in front of real Accomplished Demons. But he needed to form some kind of connection with this Xinian Confederation in order to use a boat to get back home. For that, having a business would be very useful. This was dangerous, but he couldn't see another way.
Since this Xixue legitimately seemed to have some connections, he might use her. Of course, he didn't trust her at all. She was saying the truth at the moment. But if she thought she had a better way of saving her sister, she would betray him in a heartbeat. Strangely though, he didn't find that despicable. At least, he knew what her priority was. He could work with that. Now that she had seen how talented he was with his seals, she was obviously enticed to help him.
Cao Yun's problem was that he didn't intend to save her little sister. Right now, he was only thinking about his. And at that moment, he knew what Xixue had been feeling when she had been forced to choose between a chance of saving her kin and betraying strangers. That being said, he could already see ways for their two goals to help each other.
With her help, he might be able to form some connection with the Xinian Confederation. Despite Boss Gui's reputation, Cao Yun was relatively certain that she was the right person to approach first. Although she was incredibly vicious and sadistic, she was also level-headed and rational. As long as he knew how to get her interest, this would be easy enough to manipulate her.
Moreover, she was relatively new in the Xinian Confederation. Thus, he guessed that she might be more open about new business partners. Furthermore, Xixue had specifically trained to get close to her. Instead of becoming Boss Gui's assistant and advisor, Xixue would become Cao Yun's.
For this plan to work though, he first needed to form his Unclean Evil to pass off as a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. And he also needed Golden Blood to keep up appearances. Even with that, he would have a bit of trouble to be recognized by Boss Gui. His blood quality would help, but he also had to be strong enough. At the very least, he had to make sure people thought he was strong enough.
Becoming a fake 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon would be helpful. But his priority right now was to develop his Golden Blood. That wasn't something he could fake for too long. Forming one's Golden Blood would literally change all of that person's blood. Thus, a single drop of his blood might betray his cultivation level. But if he had that Golden Blood, then no one would be able to see through him, unless they were fighting him of course.
After all, the aspects of his Po he had trained wre real. They were not his Turbid Demons per se as they were still the uncorrupted version of his Po. But they would look like a Demon Soul to any Accomplished Demon. Of that he was certain. Right now, he was probably the individual with the greatest understanding of the corporeal soul and of Death Energy on the planet.
"I will make this deal with you. But I am on the verge of a breakthrough so I won't go to Yixin City straight away. As soon as I am ready for it, I will bring you there with me to find where your little sister was taken. In the meantime, I expect you to obey all my orders and to tell me how you intend for me to join the Xinian Confederation."
Xixue thought about it for a long time. She wanted to get to her sister as fast as possible. But with Cao Yun's help, she had many more possibilities. Maybe here mission was not so desperate after all. Since the heavens had given her such a gift, she couldn't disregard it.
"Fine, I agree. I already burned my other bridges after all. There is a small city nearby, on the verge of the Xinian Confederation."
"Ruohe?"
"Indeed, Ruohe. I know a few people there. This is a good trading hub. This is the place we should go to first. There, you'll be able to make a small name for yourself. But you will need things to sell. The best idea with your strength would be to hunt demonic beasts. Their blood and their cores can be sold for quite a lot. Considering how you were able to kill Yaxue and his group, becoming a hunter should be easy. This isn't unusual for nomads to try and make a living through hunting. I have a few contacts who could help you set up a legitimate business. Of course, it will take some time. But in less than half a year, you should be able to have a good reputation."
"Good... But I have no reason to limit myself to hunting. If Boss Gui is selling warriors to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, the use of alchemy might improve the quality of her slaves. What is the situation of alchemy on this continent?"