The one who was the most shocked was Xixue because she had never even thought of such a possibility. At first, she wanted to object. If such a thing was known, it might hurt his reputation. But then, she knew better. Her arguing with him in front of those slaves who might be freed in a year's time was foolish. And at that moment, she also realized that she was only thinking of her mission and those slaves were merely tools. As that thought became vivid to her, she cursed herself and then Cao Yun.
In her eyes, he had thwarted her first plan. The people who had been tortured and killed by her leaking the location of the Moshu tribe had suffered in vain. But in truth, she was blaming herself. If she had met that man beforehand, those people wouldn't have had to know such a fate. But if she had been stronger, she would never have had to make that choice. And now, in front of her, Cao Yun was able to do what she had not been able to. As much as he needed those slaves to manage his shop, he would not resort to distasteful ways.
Many thoughts coursed through her mind and Xixue was at a loss. Obviously, Cao Yun could read her very easily. First of all, she wasn't making any particular effort to hide it. And even if she had, his mind cultivation was just way above any trick she could use. With his senses, he could see through any subtle change in her posture, in her breathing, in her face. There was no way for her to hide anything from his eyes.
He also saw that the slaves were in disbelief. None of them had ever heard of such a master before. He could keep them in his service for at least twenty years and work them to exhaustion and beyond without paying them anything. And yet, he had offered them a salary and a way out. The shrewdest one thought it to be some kind of elaborate trap. Instead of getting his hopes up too fast, he would wait and see. But in the following days, seeing his good work conditions, even he would be convinced. There was another man though who had a better idea. By giving them so much, he realized that Cao Yun had in fact ensured their service for life.
Indeed, after buying their freedom, there was no way they would leave such a benevolent master. Besides, by giving them good work conditions, he was also making sure that they would work themselves to exhaustion without him having to say anything and that was what happened. Slowly, the shop became a part of them. They considered it as their own company and they would do everything to make it fruitful. However, that benevolent master was no fool. As he had said, he was harsh when it came to punishment. And he had a perfect way of punishing his workers, money. Since they had a salary and hoped to pay for their freedom, he could simply take that money away for lesser offenses. Thankfully, none of his employees discovered what would happen if they had committed any crime under his service.
Cao Yun dismissed his new slaves/employees. Then, he stayed alone with Xixue. Once again, she didn't know what to do so she simply stayed standing there. She could feel that Cao Yun had something to tell her and that it wouldn't be pleasant. However, he didn't talk. His spiritual senses were completely engulfing her and adding to the pressure she could feel from his eyes.
"Lord Mo, if other shops learn of that, they may not like it. First of all, this might make you look weak in their eyes. And they could even take it as you inciting their own slaves to rebel. Besides, this might also make Boss Gui wary of you."
"To the contrary, from what I gathered from this Boss Gui, she would most likely approve of my ways. Instead of using the stick alone, I introduced a carrot. Now, they will work harder and will produce better results. When it comes to my competitors, I will let my results speak for me. I do not care what they think of me at this point. But you are right that I cannot appear weak at all. And the fact that you always seem to be questioning my decisions as well as your overtly hostile gaze are not helping for that."
"Lord..."
"Silence! I have had enough of your gaze on me. You look at me as though I am responsible for your actions or your situation. You made a terrible decision when you were in a desperate position, own to it! I know what you see when you look at me. You see your own helplessness, your own shortcomings, your own shame. Trust me, I know about shame and about desperate situations. You've betrayed an entire tribe who had welcomed you and you offered them to degradation, torture, death and servitude. I am not to blame. The situation is not to blame. You are! You might have had few choices but you chose the worst one. And now that you see me able to choose better than you, you think everything is because of my strength, that if only you had been stronger, you could have chosen differently."
Cao Yun's tone was mixed with his 'Weeping Demon'. Thus, his words were reaching deep into Xixue. Furthermore, they were ringing true. All the feelings that she didn't know how to handle were laid bare in front of her. Suddenly, she understood her hostility toward Cao Yun.
"You are not the only one who suffered a lot. The people you've betrayed also suffered by your actions. Trust me, I understand the desire to save one's sister, but that doesn't mean that you can torment people who had nothing to do with it in the first place. I will help you find your sister. But I will not resort to such means. Do not misunderstand me, I am no saint. And I'm not helping you just out of the kindness of my heart. You help me, so I help you, this is that simple. But hear me, I have much more grand projects in mind for the entire continent. And if I have to choose between helping you and forwarding my projects, there won't be any hesitation. At the end of the day, if you want to save her, you'll have to rely on yourself. You've felt powerless. Well, today I give you the power back. Make your decision now. Either follow me willingly or leave my service. I will still help you find out where your sister has been sold from Boss Gui, but no more than that. Decide."
To be honest, Cao Yun didn't care much about moral, at least not in the demon territory. Their views were a bit different from his. But still, that didn't sit right with him what she had done. And he intended to put her qualities to good work. That might be able to redeem herself a bit. After all, she would help take down the system that was afflicting this society. But she had to choose to do so herself. He couldn't force her to follow him.
Xixue was quite shocked after hearing Cao Yun's words. Behind them, she could somehow see what he had in mind. After seeing him promise freedom to his own slaves, she thought she had a very good idea of what he wanted to do. But he was still only a 2nd-grade Accomplished Demon. In front of the Nalupu Kingdom, he was nothing, just like she had been nothing in front of Boss Gui or City Lord Sihe. To save her sister, she had found no better way than to commit the crimes she had herself been victim of.
Despite Cao Yun's cultivation, she was sensing something deep in his words. He was utterly convinced of his success. There was no doubt in it. Even if he were to fail, he would accept it gladly. If she followed him, she would have to accept responsibility for her actions. Until now, she had made herself a tool for City Lord Sihe's ambitions in exchange for the promise of rescuing her sister. From this day forward, she had the choice to become a demon again, not just a tool.
For several minutes, Cao Yun waited and waited. His patience was rewarded when Xixue knelt in front of him.
"Lord Mo Yun, I accept your offer. I will help you achieve your goals."
"Good. Send for the Moshu tribe. I will have words with them."
When Xixue left, Dian Mo's voice resounded in the young man's mind.
"Do you really believe everything that you said? To what lengths are you really ready to go to save your little sister? Would you sacrifice the Hongchen Kingdom for her? Would you sacrifice innocent people for her?"
"The truth is that I don't know. I hope I won't. I like to believe I won't. But if I had been in her shoes, I might have made such a terrible choice as well. The Moshu tribe would blame her if they knew, but I don't. I blame City Lord Sihe. However, the good she might do by my side will hopefully tip the balance of her conscience."
"You do know that many people will die if you go forward with your plans."
"This is war, many people are already die. Besides, their current situation is terrible. I won't force anyone to follow me. But if they do, I will offer them a chance at something better."
"But in the end, you're doing this to impair the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. You don't really care about the suffering of those demons, right?"
"While you're right on your first point, you're mistaken on that second one. But I already told you before, I have no intention of becoming a saint or a savior, I'm not a fool. That doesn't mean that I'm blind and deaf to the torment around me. Now, leave me alone for some time, I have to work on my Unclean Evil."
This Unclean Evil was the Po of Qi. By advancing it, Cao Yun would gain an even better control over his Qi. Besides, the first aspect of his Po he had worked on was the Po of Jing, the Flying Poison. With those two aspects, his control over his Golden Blood would become near perfect. With this mind cultivation, he would speed up his blood cultivation even more. And since the Unclean Evil was related to shame, Cao Yun had some to spare, unfortunately.
To be honest, he had no grand moral or superior principle to adhere to. Although he followed the School of Ren Dao from the Hongchen Kingdom, he didn't have all the answers to those questions. Even now, he was more or less finding them as he was going forward. One thing was certain in his mind though, slavery was an evil practice, just like demonic cultivation. In fact, anything that would turn a human, or a demon for that matter, into a tool or an object of some kind was repulsive to him. But at the same time, Dian Mo was somewhat right. With his plans, many people might die. But Cao Yun was not all-powerful. He couldn't just wave his hands and change the world. Hopefully though, he would be able to limit the deaths so their enemies would suffer much more.
Just like with the Flying Poison, Cao Yun worked on his Unclean Evil by picking up all the threads of his Po related to his shame. With them, he was reliving his past experiences and his emotions. There was less and less doubt in his actions now. He fully embraced this sensation and wasn't too worried about being lost in those emotions. Thus, it would take less time than for the Flying Poison. The point he wasn't too sure about was about the Drop of Wrath.
Before, the Flying Poison had already been a part of the Drop of Wrath. Now, he was trying to rebuild its Unclean Evil with his own. So he had no past experience of that. Still, he could feel the Drop of Wrath grow stronger as his Unclean Evil was slowly implanted into it.
-
Later, Xixue sent the Moshu tribe to Cao Yun's chambers. Since they had come to Ruohe, they had passed off as his slaves and had worked as servants for the most part. Now was the time to end this temporary situation. Just like Xixue, they had a choice to make. Looking at their eyes, Cao Yun knew they would make the right one. But even if they didn't, he would not force them.
"Thank you all for your service until this day. As I promised you, I have bought some caravan for you to go back to the desert. Although your tribe is no more, I imagine that you could still join another one. From what I heard, all your tribes know each other. So I will offer you a choice. All of you who want to go back can. I will give you everything you need. But I will only ask of you that you bring a message to the leaders of the nomad tribes. Your other alternative is to stay by my side. After taking over this city, I intend to go to Duma where Boss Gui rules, the woman who had her men enslave you. I can't promise you vengeance though. My goals are greater than that. I intend to end the hunt for more slaves in the Desolate Dune Desert."
Hearing Cao Yun's words, they were all utterly shocked. First of all, he spoke about taking over this city as though it was a done deal. And of course, his ambition of ending slavery was something unheard of. Only the humans had ever been able to escape slavery. And that had been possible by a Great War that had changed the face of this planet. But somehow, they could tell that he would do as he had said. Some of the Moshu immediately saw images of flames covering the entire Desolate Sepulcher. They could already taste the blood in the air as Cao Yun would wage war to free all slaves.
There had been a few revolts, but they had all ended up in blood. So they couldn't imagine any other scene apart from untold violence. Some even cowered in fear as they saw the certainty in Cao Yun's eyes. What they were afraid of was that they began to believe in his words. They thought that this one might be able to do it. But it was hopeless in the end...
Most of the Moshu decided to leave back to other tribes. But they also agreed to bring Cao Yun's message with them. On the other hand, a handful of Moshu chose to stay by his side. In particular, Cao Yun was quite interested in a young boy named Dan Yao. Since his arrival, he had been very interested by alchemy. And Cao Yun was seeing something in him despite his young age. In fact, he was as young as Cao Yun was when he entered the Wubei Sect. He might be able to learn.