In the end, Cao Yun traveled with Xixue, Dan Yao and Nie Pian. Nie Pian was an old man and he had almost no hope of advancing his cultivation. However, he had become fascinated by Cao Yun's business. He had realized that being close to him would ensure a perpetual income. Although there was some danger, he decided to follow Cao Yun instead of just working in the Blazing Swallow shop in Ruohe. No, he needed to sink his teeth in something bigger.
All his life, Nie Pian had wanted to become a powerful and influential man. Now, he had finally found his ambition once more by Cao Yun's sides. There was no need for some petty scheme or some tax fraud as he had committed before.
Besides those three, the bodyguards of Tu Jianhe had joined Cao Yun as a form of escort and so had a few hunters. Among them, Cao Yun was a living god. He had stayed less than three months in Ruohe and had completely changed the city. Of course, this was a medium-sized city that wasn't so important to the Nalupu Kingdom. However, it was essential for the small cities all around it as many hunters were going through it to sell their booties. Besides, it was also rather important for the economic fabric of the area because many raw materials were going through it as though it was a gate toward the desert.
The mere fact that the Nalupu Kingdom seemed to have failed to realize the real importance of the city was baffling. At first, Cao Yun thought that taking over the economy of Ruohe would be difficult and he was ready to leave fast in order to get to Boss Gui. But after realizing that it had been quite easy, he had re-imagined all of his plans. As much as he didn't want to be overconfident, this entire continent seemed to be ill-prepared for his tactics. Living cut off from the rest of the world had caused too much stagnation.
In fact, apart from Boss Gui, there had been no real change in the power hierarchy for a very long time. And even that change had been caused by an external factor. Without the insane war waged by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, this wouldn't have happened. Boss Gui had specialized herself in the sale of slave warriors. Maybe it was due to Cao Yun's memories of Axiu Qian, but he could empathize with those slaves in particular. When it came to slavery in general, it was the history of his own kind that was touching him. Somehow it felt a bit less personal. However, he was still disgusted by any form of slavery and by some of the violent ways of the demons in that kingdom. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be some fanatic religion hating humans.
By slowing down slavery, at the very least, Cao Yun would also slow down the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Of course, they had now a momentum of their own and after annexing several demon kingdoms, they didn't need the Desolate Sepulcher that much anymore. However, that would still be a good thing for mankind. In fact, Cao Yun was also already thinking of forming some kind of alliance among demons. That was very risky because if they really united against the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, there would be nothing to prevent them from attacking the Hongchen Kingdom.
Depending on the strength of the demon kingdoms, the alliance he had in mind and the Empyrean Asura Theocracy could be so damaged after a war that they would have no choice but to negotiate with the humans once more. There were many things to consider. For now, he didn't even know the state of the Hongchen Kingdom. But he was thinking about it because he didn't want his kingdom to fall. And since he intended to kill Emperor Weide, this could very well happen. Even revealing the truth of Emperor Weide's treason could be a problem for the unity of the Hongchen Kingdom. So if Cao Yun wanted to get rid of him while defending his kingdom and his friends, he had to make sure that the demons would not win the war.
During the five to six weeks of travel toward Duma City, Cao Yun had many thoughts going on in his mind. Using his mind cultivation, he pushed them aside. He needed more information to take new decisions. For the time being, he would go with his original and more conservative plan. If he could go beyond it, it would be welcome, but for now he wouldn't be greedy. His main objective was still to create a wealthy and influential commerce so he could get a boat toward the main continent. For that, Dan Yao and Nie Pian were useful.
As much as he was considering them for his plans, Cao Yun had grown attached to the young boy. When it came to Nie Pian, he was still a bit apprehensive because he didn't really know the old man. In his eyes, he could see a new flame that had been absent during their very first meeting. Nie Pian had ambition, but there was no ill will toward Cao Yun, in fact there was gratitude. Anyway, he would keep an eye on him just in case. Since he was convinced Nie Pian would stay in Ruohe, he had not really tried to get to know him. In fact, Cao Yun had left a huge part of his business in Xixue's competent hands. Speaking of her, he also had to fulfill his promise to her and to find her sister. However, he had made no promise to rescue her sister. Depending on the situation, that might be an idea because Xixue's help was just too good to let her go if he could avoid it.
Obviously, during the travel, he also developed his cultivation. This was one of the most important aspects of his plan. By the time he reached Duma City, Cao Yun was a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child. In other words, he had a perfect control over his Golden Blood. Unfortunately, he had few opportunities to really train his meridians. According to 'Cultivation of Wrath', 'Demon Steel Drums Flesh' was a way for one to strengthen both meridians and Extraordinary Vessels. There were twenty routines to master.
Each routine was related to a specific meridian or to a vessel. And each routine had as many moves as there were acupoints on the specific meridian or vessel. Simply memorizing all the moves and their sequence was very easy for Cao Yun. Although they were quite strange some times with very acrobatic twists here and there, there was nothing too difficult to do with his current body. By alternating contraction and relaxation, this was using the flow of blood and the muscles themselves to temper the meridians from within.
Combining that with his mastery of Fire Qi and Water Qi, Cao Yun also included the Wood element of his world tree. His Golden Blood was also making everything that much faster. Besides, thanks to 'Cultivation of Wrath', Cao Yun realized that there were many ways to combine those routines. Just like meridians which were interconnected and even shared acupoints with vessels, it was possible to mix routines together. Depending on one's own body and mood, it was useful to always adapt the combination of the moves to one's specificity.
When it came to his blood and mind cultivation, everything was going well. In fact, Cao Yun was advancing his mind cultivation at a very steady pace. Although he had always questions about his own temperament, he couldn't detect anything unusual in his behavior. The situation around him had changed, but for the time being he didn't feel like he personally had. Well, he was older and saw things differently, but he didn't think this was caused by his mind cultivation.
As a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child, he would need to send his Golden Blood up his spine and his Governor Vessel, which demons didn't have. That part might be slightly more difficult because of the existence of that Governor Vessel. Since he hadn't tempered it yet, it might get damaged by his Golden Blood. Thus, the young human decided to change things up. Although tempering and strengthening one's Extraordinary Vessels was exclusive to 6th-grade Mortal Warriors, he would create a program to strengthen the parts he needed in his Governor Vessel without causing other problems. For that, he needed to take into consideration which meridians were linked to his Governor Vessel along the way. Indeed, there was a reason why one would first focus on their meridians. So he would need to be careful, but he was confident.
The real tricky part would be to bypass his Shendao, the Heart Gate. Along the spine, there were three Flood Gates, Mingmen the Life Gate, Shendao the Heart Gate and Fengfu the Palace Gate. Each one was a delicate place in one's spine. The goal of the Golden Blood Child realm was, to put it in simple terms, to nourish one's mind with the Golden Blood. Then, a demon could begin cultivating his Turbid Demons. Just like humans, their sea of consciousness were in their head although demons didn't have real Upper Dantian. But to get to one's head, it was necessary to pass through the spine. And those three gates were very dangerous and could cause internal injuries. In fact, it was literally possible to kill oneself by forcing one of the Flood Gates open.
Because Cao Yun had already worked on his acupoints as a human cultivator, getting through them would be much easier. That didn't mean that there was no risk though. After all, he was sending a very dense, heavy and rich fluid through them, his own Golden Blood. Besides, his new blood seals would also help him out with that process and even with his Qi cultivation. Everything was going so well Cao Yun began to worry a little. Somehow, he was afraid that he was going to hit a bottleneck at some point. And apart from the Lesser Tribulation, he didn't see what could go wrong. Thus, he was growing worried about that even though he had at least a couple of years before reaching that point, in theory at least.
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Finally, they reached Duma City. Compared with Ruohe, that was like comparing a small city to the capital of a kingdom. Even the architecture was different. All over the place, Cao Yun could see buildings with extremely impressive and sometimes bold architectures. The influence from the ancient kingdoms of the demons and of Demon God Da Mo himself was clearly there, but there was something unique and new as well. Even the Imperial City wasn't so daring. Sometimes, the differences were a bit too pronounced and it felt like a building belonged to a completely different city. But overall, the general composition turned Duma City into a nice painting.
From what Cao Yun knew and from what he had observed himself, demons were more emotional than humans. In average, the difference wasn't so important, but when it came to the extremes, they were much more important among demons. Those extremes could be artists of course, but also warriors. On the battlefield, demons could get enraged more easily than humans. And their blood cultivation didn't help with that trait. In fact, this was a real problem for them. As much as it could yield great results, this was a double-edged sword. No wonder some demon had tried to create Cao Yun's mind cultivation to get rid of that weakness in their cultivation.
Contrary to Ruohe, Cao Yun could also sense powerful array formations. They were nothing he couldn't deal with, but it would take him a lot more time even with Dian Mo's full assistance. Anyway, to earn Boss Gui's trust, it would probably take longer. Even before officially entering the city, Cao Yun could tell it wouldn't be as easy to take over its economy. Besides, since Duma City was one of the official twenty-one city-states of the Nalupu Kingdom, it was bound to be watched much more closely. Indeed, Lord Wanghuo, the Xinian Confederation and also the Sisters of the Abyss were attentive to all the city-states.
When it came to Duma City, they were even more attentive because Boss Gui had risen to prominence relatively recently thanks to the sales of slave warriors. Apart from her, no one knew how to train them that well and that fast. But apparently, many of her slaves died during the training, or were at least so maimed that they couldn't be of any use afterward. As an alchemist, Cao Yun was certain he could help with that. That was his main idea to get closer to her. If he could improve the survivability of her slaves, he might be able to earn her trust faster. Furthermore, he had other tools at his disposal. But first, he would need to see her in person to decide the best way to get to her.
Although her reputation was cruel, she was also considered very rational and level-headed. Those were very contradictory things in Cao Yun's mind. Maybe not everything about her was true. Since City Lord Sihe wanted her dead, it was also possible that there were fake rumors about her, even concerning her slaves. After all, some of the numbers he had heard were simply insane. If only one out of a hundred slaves survived, her operation would not be able to turn a profit. And it was also possible that she was fueling the rumors herself in order to get that reputation. After all, Cao Yun was also doing something similar with his fake affiliation to City Lord Sihe which was probably known by many throughout the Nalupu Kingdom by now.
Anyway, for the time being, Cao Yun would hold his judgment. Depending on Boss Gui herself, he would act differently.
After entering the city, the young human felt a few gazes on him. There was also someone using spiritual senses to feel his aura. Since he was prepared for that, Cao Yun immediately responded. His own spiritual senses clashed with those. It was just enough to tell whoever had done that that he was actually an Accomplished Demon himself. Obviously, if it turned into a fight, Cao Yun wouldn't be able to win against true spiritual senses, but he was just keeping up appearances now. He didn't go full-out. It was the equivalent of dogs barking at each other.
But this first impression really drove in that this wasn't a small city he could easily get under his thumb.