Cao Yun had no desire to rule any city. Political power wasn't something he was looking for. In fact, even the economic power seemed meaningless now. Everything was just a means to an end. And his end was extremely clear, he had to grow stronger and stronger to then rescue his sister. In the process, he would also try to alter this land's fate as it would help out mankind as well. But to be fair, even if it had had no impact on the war, he would have still tried to do something. Slavery was simply something he could not watch idly by. Maybe he wouldn't completely succeed. After all, this wasn't his land and he had no deep experience of its culture and history, but he would still try. However, he was no saint and he knew that there would be consequences.
Now that Lady Gu Xue had agreed to Cao Yun's demands, he had no more reason to stay in this city. Most of what he had done had been in order for him to solidify his identity. As much as he would try to silence the rumors about his former association with City Lord Sihe, they would spread among the rich and powerful. That was precisely what he was expecting. His act of trying to suppress those would only make them more true. Thus, he could easily explain both the fact that no one knew about him, that he had literally come out of nowhere, but also the fact that he was such a good alchemist and seal master.
Without those rumors, there would have been too many questions. Now, the demons he was going to deal with would think he truly was one of them. This would offer many benefits. First of all, they would not think to look for another answer. They would also treat him as an equal and they would thus more easily accept to work with him. At the same time, thinking of him as one of them, they would believe him subjected to the same cultural constraints as them. That had been the people of Ruohe's weakness. The Desolate Sepulcher had many constraints. They adhered to tradition and rites a bit too much. Since they were expecting Cao Yun to do the same thing, it would make his life a bit easier.
Besides, the political and even economic structures of the Nalupu Kingdom and the Xinian Confederation weren't too resilient. Most likely because they had been isolated on this continent for so long, they had grown complacent. They had had no competition unlike the Hongchen Kingdom. Humans had been forced to create powerful institutions which were thus more difficult to subvert. Of course, that didn't mean they were perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But working within so much disunity would be a good thing for Cao Yun.
In fact, the only force he was a bit worried about were the Sisters of the Abyss. Despite all the intelligence he had gathered, he knew close to nothing about them. Like all the demons, they put a lot of emphasis on blood and were called its protectors, whatever that meant. Furthermore, they had very specialized sisters for certain difficult jobs. They were spies, assassins, seers, teachers, ... Cao Yun had heard rumors about them but they were very secretive and clearly cultivated mysticism around them. Some stories were simply unbelievable and sometimes even contradictory. Most likely, those women were the reason why this Nalupu Kingdom was standing so strong on the continent. They were acting in the shadows. And this was something that fascinated Cao Yun. Instead of ruling a kingdom, ruling its rulers might be an better prospect.
Anyway, Cao Yun made sure that everything was dealt with in Ruohe. For that, he arranged for Tu Jianhe to free all of his slaves. In fact, Cao Yun could have freed slaves himself by altering their Slavery Brands. But after hearing what Dian Mo had to say about City Lord Sihe, the young human had decided not to tempt fate. He would try to leave as little evidence as possible. If City Lord Sihe could understand anything about the way Cao Yun was dealing with his Slavery Brands, he might adapt to it and become even more proficient. City Lord Sihe would obviously become a threat to Cao Yun, but he didn't need it to happen too soon. First of all, he had to be ready for it.
Thanks to Cao Yun's connections with the hunter union, his Blazing Swallow grew even stronger. Besides, many of the slaves under Tu Jianhe were hunters who had been pushed into more and more debts until they had to sell themselves. Taking down Tu Jianhe's business had greatly improved his reputation. In the end, Cao Yun decided to leave his business in the hands of the Silver Conch and Jia Lao. Lady Gu Xue would obviously stay Ruohe's leader, but she was no businesswoman and had no interest in becoming one. Besides, no matter how pills she took, she would only prolong her lifespan, not improve her cultivation. Of course, Cao Yun could have easily helped her with that thanks to his own blood, his mind cultivation or his alchemy. But this would have revealed too much and he had absolutely no reason to help her out that much.
In less than a month, Ruohe's economy was entirely between Cao Yun's hands. Thanks to that, he had a great reputation in the neighboring cities and had a huge and still growing wealth. In other words, he had gotten everything he had been looking for. The hunters also spread very positive rumors about him, especially among the nomad tribes. What Cao Yun didn't realize at that point was that the Sisters of the Abyss had sent someone else to spy on him.
Thanks to all his array formations, she had not been able to come too close to him. Several times, Cao Yun had wondered whether he had been too paranoid. Clearly, he hadn't. In his mind, he still remembered Cang Yin, the girl who could change her shape. Her ability had come from her demonic bloodline, so obviously, Cao Yun was much more careful than usual. But his growing spiritual senses were reassuring him a lot. However, he didn't want to be trapped by a illusory sense of security. Thus, that spy was unable to enter his inner sanctum. Apart from a select few, the young alchemist didn't let anyone too close to him and his array formations prevented them from doing so in the first place.
Finally, everything was over. After making sure that his presence wasn't necessary in Ruohe, Cao Yun was ready to leave for Duma where Boss Gui was City Lord. From lady Gu Xue, he had received a letter of recommendation signed with her own blood. This was as good as having her put her life on the line for him. Although this probably won't be enough to earn Boss Gui's trust, this would allow him to do business with her without too many problems.
There were a few loose ends Cao Yun had to tie up. First of all, Tu Jianhe had to die. That man was just too dangerous to let live. Thankfully, he was a truly despicable character so it didn't weigh on Cao Yun's conscience. That being said, he didn't want to become like demonic cultivators, using and discarding people. Anyway, in the middle of the night, Cao Yun entered his residence without any problem and poisoned him while he was sleeping. His mastery of poison was good enough that no one would suspect it. It would look like his cultivation had gone awry. In a few days, he would die of blood deviation and no one would question it. To begin with, the knowledge of poison was very lacking in this continent. After all, poison was viewed as the most heretical knowledge of all as it contaminated the blood.
Of course, Cao Yun had been smart enough to use a poison which wouldn't leave any trace in Tu Jianhe's blood. Thanks to the book of Tree of Death, his own master, Cao Yun had many poisons at his disposal. And a mere Golden Blood Child couldn't do anything against them as he couldn't even feel he had been poisoned.
As Cao Yun was preparing to leave Ruohe, a young man came to his chambers. Dan Yao kowtowed to his door and knocked his skull on the floor three times, with just enough strength to draw a bit of blood. The fresh blood flowed on his face where there were still traces of soot from past mistakes in the alchemy laboratory.
"Master, don't forsake me! Please, bring this useless one with you. I will give all of my blood for your cause, master! This one is not worth anything without Master's guidance. Although I may be slow and stupid, I won't slow you down, I won't disappoint you. I will work until my body turns to dust and crumbles. My very last drop of blood will be for you, Master!"
While Dan Yao was pleading so, Cao Yun couldn't hear him as he had secluded himself in his cultivation room. Thus, the poor boy spent several hours in this position, refusing to sweep the blood off his brow. For other demons, this was a huge act of humility. Letting one's blood flow and touch the ground was humbling beyond words. Indeed, this liquid was not just blood, it was seen as a demon's honor and also as its own ancestors. In one's blood, there was the bloodline of one's entire genealogy. Thus, Dan Yao's act was like forsaking his own ancestors to accept Cao Yun as his one true master.
Unfortunately for the boy, Cao Yun would not notice him before several hours. And even if he had, he was simply too busy right now to leave his cultivation room.
Indeed, thanks to Dian Mo, he had finally been able to come up with a revised version of Xixue's seals. Not only would they help his cultivation go faster, they would also improve his general knowledge and his overall strength. Seals, blood runes, array formations and even martial arts to some extent were using the same kind of principles. By controlling the flow of certain energies, one could produce various effects. Those seals he was currently trying to form in his own body using his blood would truly work like an array formation.
Unfortunately, Dian Mo could help him too much because of his current state. But his advice was so good that it wasn't such a problem in the end. Besides, creating the seals himself would be beneficial on many aspects. Just by working on it, Cao Yun was learning to control his Golden Blood with more and more ease. It wouldn't be long for him to be a full-fledged 5th-grade Golden Blood Child. After that, he would need to send his Golden Blood into his spine, following the Governor Vessel. As a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun was still working on improving his meridians. Working on his Extraordinary Vessels was supposed to wait until he was a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior.
But he had no reason not to try and begin with his Governor Vessel as soon as his blood cultivation was ready. At the same time, he would still use his Qi and Golden Blood to strengthen and temper his meridians. In 'Cultivation of Wrath', there were many strange routines to perform to help with the meridians. Some required the use of specific pills or demonic beasts blood, but if Cao Yun could use his own Golden Blood, it would make things faster. Indeed, it was his own fluid, there would be no toxin within it and it would be absorbed much more easily by his own body.
After a few hours, Cao Yun had formed all one hundred and eight blood seals he needed in his body. They were arranged a bit differently compared with Xixue. But he and Dian Mo had adapted them to Cao Yun's own body and cultivation. Since he was human, there had to be differences obviously. But they had also gotten rid of a few things City Lord Sihe had added to turn Xixue into a human bomb. Thanks to this practice, this would help Cao Yun alter Xixue's body to also neutralize that.
Once he was done, Cao Yun cultivated a little and immediately felt the improvement. His blood was flowing with much more fluidity and force. Performing a strange routine while still meditating, the young human was sending almost all of his Golden Blood along the course of his own meridians. There were brutal reversal to stress out the meridians and train them. After all, they would have to resist a lot of pressure during the Lesser Tribulation. Thus, it was paramount that they could endure it. The effects were great and Cao Yun was very optimistic about his future.
Of course, he also trained his mind cultivation a little. His Unclean Evil was progressing nicely. At the same time, it was slowly getting engraved into his Drop of Wrath. Thanks to that, he could feel an even more intimate relationship with this Drop of Wrath. Even its Flying Poison was slowly getting closer to Cao Yun's Flying Poison. There was no doubt in his mind that he would ultimately merge this Drop of Wrath with his entire being. It was already under his absolute authority, but it would be soon be completely one with him.
After a few hours working on his cultivation, Cao Yun was very satisfied. Now that he had gotten the huge work out of the way, he could travel again. Since his cultivation was just a matter of time, he would now get to work on his project for the Desolate Sepulcher.
Leaving his cultivation room, Cao Yun immediately felt Dan Yao's presence in front of his door. To be honest, he had been hesitating about bringing that young boy with him to Duma. He needed to work on his alchemy and being by Cao Yun's side was the best option for him to progress. However, he was a bit weak and Cao Yun would probably not be able to protect him if things went wrong. For Xixue, he had no choice since she absolutely wanted to come in order to get news about her sister.
Seeing Dan Yao being so insistent, Cao Yun's mind was made. He opened the door.
"Student Dan Yao, I saw your sincerity and your hard work. You will become a good alchemist in the future. I will not forsake you. So instead of wasting your time on my doorstep, keep working on my teachings. We will leave tomorrow, get ready."
A huge smile lit up Dan Yao's face.
"Yes, Master!"