While flying on Hongyu's back, Cao Yun was free to act. Behind him, Xin Zhe was extremely fast but still couldn't catch up with Hongyu's speed. After all, she was a demonic beast related to the True Fiery Fenghuang. Apart from a Blue Mane Falcon, she was most likely the fastest demonic beast. In addition, she could use her evil core to produce even more energy. Not only that, the flames she was leaving behind her were also rich in Evil Qi.
Although she was beyond herself, Xin Zhe was still rational enough to see that those flames were not normal at all. As such, she was forced to alter her course so that she wouldn't go near those. And she was absolutely right to do so. Not only would they affect her flesh, they might even entice the Flying Poison to go on a rampage again. She really didn't need that at the moment. Even if she had controlled her rage and had almost broken through, she had done so by pushing her Unclean Evil too far too fast. After today, she would need decades to repair all the damage, if she could even do such a thing. Obviously, she was looking forward to drinking Cao Yun's blood essence. In that moment, her most primal urge had taken over.
All around Xin Zhe, there were thousands of bones rotating. Even at a distance, Cao Yun could feel the Death Energy still trapped within some of those bones. Thankfully, he had a better affinity with Death Energy than her. What was probably an advantage to her in most fights would become a problem. That being said, he couldn't reveal it too soon. Moreover, just having a better affinity didn't mean much if her strength was vastly superior to his. Hopefully, she had already spent most of it. Anyway, Cao Yun still wanted to increase his chances of success. For that, he knew exactly where he was leading her.
All of a sudden, an skeleton arm appeared in front of Cao Yun. Completely vertical, the extended arm pointed a finger to the sky. Above that index finger, various currents of energy gathered. In an instant, there was a large ivory and golden disk with thirty-six blades spinning on top of the finger. With an abrupt movement, the arm sent that disk flying toward Cao Yun and Hongyu.
'Heavenly Spirits Ruin'!
Hongyu instinctively increased the flames around her body. Within Cao Yun's Drop of Wrath, the Rune of Fire shined brightly. From his very heart, the Black Heart Flame merged with Hongyu's flames as well as his own Wei Qi. But even that kind of defense would not be able to protect them from the force coming for them. Indeed, although the disk was relatively far, Cao Yun could already feel the air pressure and hear the strident sound of its rotation. Besides, the disk itself was full of Death Energy and blood essence extracted from the preys Xin Zhe had killed. There was no doubt in Cao Yun's mind that if he took this attack head-on, he would suffer a lot.
On the other hand, escaping was impossible. Indeed, there was some form of pressure all around Cao Yun and Hongyu. By the time he would break through this pressure, the manifested weapon would have already sliced them in half. Thus, he had to deflect it as best as he could. Unfortunately, he was far from the spot he wanted to reach. Obviously, Cao Yun had prepared other array formations. But only one could help him against Xin Zhe. However, the woman wasn't stupid despite her fury. If he had trapped her army in array formation once, he could do it again. This time, she wouldn't be careless. And she would never allow him back in her mind. The mere fact that he was running away proved to her that he wasn't a fighter. So she would use everything to kill him fast.
It would have been a good thing to bring him back to City Lord Sihe, but her life was much more important. Besides, she could still try to capture his soul, or at least parts of it, after killing his body.
What Cao Yun did shocked her though, and made her think.
Behind Cao Yun and Hongyu, space broke as though it was made of glass. And on the other side of that broken mirror, there were seven stars, the Piercing Stars of the Azure Dragon. Among them, two had constellations around them. While the Horn Constellation was complete, the Neck Constellation seemed a bit dim with a few missing stars here and there. If Xin Zhe had been closer to the scene, she would have heard faint voices chanting strange hymns directly from Cao Yun's Insight Writings.
His 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' in hand, Cao Yun also mobilized his Black Heart Flame around his weapon. At the same time, he used 'Dragon's Heart' to the limit to increase his overall strength by speeding up his blood. Said blood was condensed as much as possible while racing through his bloodstream. Within his bloodstream, there was a golden hue everywhere due to his Golden Blood that was so rich in vitality because of this condensation. At this moment, Cao Yun's physical strength had clearly reached the level of Spirit Warrior or Accomplished Demon. Of course, he couldn't keep it up for too long and he had only reached a strength equivalent to the first grade.
Despite his efforts, Cao Yun could still feel the pressure of Xin Zhe's 'Heavenly Spirits Ruin'. With his mind cultivation, he could analyze the situation as though time was almost stopped. And he knew for a fact that his current strength would not be enough at all. He still needed more. Thus, he began to recite the 'Death Verses' in his mind to join his Insight Writings. There was a bit of the Dao of Death in his Insight Writings thanks, in part, to the blood essence he had absorbed from the Demon King. Combined with his understanding of 'Death Verses', it could give a strange affinity to his attack that could help him against 'Heavenly Spirits Ruin'.
Even then, he wasn't done yet. Cao Yun also mobilized his whole mind cultivation to focus his spiritual senses on his attack and use his soul to strengthen it. Unfortunately, Cao Yun's mental attacks couldn't do anything against a technique already unleashed.
After pouring everything he had, Cao Yun finally circulated the full form of 'Three Storms'. A terrible wind formed some kind of tornado around Cao Yun and Hongyu, sucking in the flames to become a firestorm. Hongyu instinctively poured her own strength into this maelstrom. When Cao Yun thought that the right moment had come, he unleashed absolutely everything at the oncoming attack. He didn't pull any punches.
'Azure Dragon Tears the East Sky'!
Once again, he used the technique he had just discovered, a technique mixing his 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' and 'Three Storms'. His 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' had literally turned into a tongue of fire he was holding in his hands covered in blue dragon scales. Cao Yun's eyes were also as blue as the two brightest stars shining behind him. When the attack was unleashed, his spear simply stabbed forward. Although it looked like a very normal stab, it was almost perfect with nearly no mistake and useless move at all. This was the quintessence of the spear Xin Zhe was witnessing.
'Complex Returns to the Void' was a very simple and widely known principle of martial arts and most techniques in fact. Simplicity was the best technique possible. Learning the complex was necessary but the final goal for a martial artist was to go back to the root of their art and to extract the very essence of it in simple moves. Flashy moves were good, but they had too many ways to fail and they distracted from the essential. Instead of unleashing a very complex and intricate technique, a very simple motion going straight for the opponent's heart was better.
What shocked Xin Zhe though wasn't Cao Yun's technique, although she had to admit that it was great. She wasn't even surprised by everything he had displayed. To be honest, she didn't understand everything he had just displayed in front of her. It wasn't even the fact that her target was clearly a human. Indeed, because Cao Yun had used everything he had, he had also exposed his cultivation as he couldn't maintain 'Ashen Feather Seal' at the same time as everything else. No, what completely broke Xin Zhe's mind was the fact that Cao Yun was nowhere near the Accomplished Demon or Spirit Warrior realm.
At that moment, she didn't even question why a human had the cultivation of a demon. In front of her was a mere Golden Blood Child who shouldn't even have any spiritual senses to begin with. And yet, he had bested her in her own sea of consciousness. Immediately, she realized that he had to have an extraordinary mind cultivation. If she could get her hands on this manual, she would be able to reach the far reaches of the Accomplished Demon realm. In fact, she even imagined herself as an Exalted Demon, the first since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. Ambition was burning within her eyes at the moment.
Cao Yun had clearly poured everything he had in his technique and Xin Zhe wasn't too impressed. Yes he was very powerful and dangerous, but his best wasn't to her level, even considering her current state. The mind cultivation he had would be hers. But then, she realized that there was a problem with that plan. Indeed, his mind was incredibly powerful and it would be difficult to break it even to search his memories. Besides, demons weren't too good with such intricate techniques. Although she was confident, she wasn't an expert at all. And she knew that her usual seals wouldn't be sufficient to force the truth out of him.
Anyway, if her 'Heavenly Spirits Ruin' could injure him enough, she would have a chance. And maybe she could also use the tribesmen's torments to extract what she wanted out of him. After all, for some reason, he seemed to care. Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked his life in the attack, especially not considering what he truly was. Had he been an Accomplished Demon, she could have understood the risks taken, barely. But since he was only a Mortal Warrior, a human, then there had to be something emotional in that irrational decision.
Xin Zhe was absolutely right of course. But although Cao Yun had grown attached to the Sand Wolves Tribe by staying with them, he wasn't overly emotional about them. In fact, the reason of his help was much more related to his goals but also to his vision of himself, and obviously his past. Xixue and her search for her sister had moved him. Unfortunately, Xixue was on her way, to deliver herself right in Xin Zhe's bony claws.
Finally, an Azure Dragon leapt from the broken space behind Cao Yun and Hongyu. As it crossed through the black and red flames, they turned into tiny wings all over its body. All around the Qi Manifestation, the winds were also forming a tornado of fire and death. Despite the distance between Cao Yun and the white and golden disk, space seemed to be altered. It was due to Cao Yun's Spear Aura. When he stabbed forward, it was as though his spear had already struck the disk although it was still far away.
With this shock, Xin Zhe realized that she had miscalculated a little. This boy's strength was higher than she had thought. Besides, he had very strange things. For example, she sensed that the Death Energy she was controlling within the bones was getting weaker, as though it was tamed by Cao Yun's mere presence. In fact, the white and golden disk started to lose a bit of its colors and her own bony weapons vibrated. But with a surge of blood, she calmed them all. However, she couldn't give more strength to her attack as it had already been unleashed. She would still need some time before reaching Cao Yun. After all, she had spent a lot of vitality and strength in that attack.
She hadn't gone as far as Cao Yun. But Xin Zhe had clearly used her most powerful attack with almost all of her strength, only saving some in the perspective of a longer fight. That was also the reason why she was now confident she could beat Cao Yun. The boy had used absolutely everything and it was obvious. Even if he could deviate her attack, she would be in better shape than him and the fight wouldn't be over at all. Even with pills, Cao Yun wouldn't be able to bridge that gap.
Obviously, Cao Yun knew it but he also didn't have any choice.
His spear was clashing against the spinning golden bone disk. The scream of the Azure Dragon was filling the air. Alongside this powerful scream, some strange words could be heard very faintly. As he was mobilizing everything he had, Cao Yun was forcing his Insight Writings to form longer and longer hymns. In fact, his sea of consciousness was now full of long verses floating around, emitting golden light all around them. The seven stars in the sky were also shining brightly over those hymns. In turn, those verses were sending back this light with a golden hue added to it. New words also appeared, those were the verses of 'Three Storms'. Quickly, they merged with the golden verses as though they were bridging them, getting them closer together.
Before long, Cao Yun also had a dozen scriptures in his sea of consciousness. Then, he felt something change within him. Inside his Upper Dantian, the Chamber of Splendor got filled with heavenly hymns and golden lights. That chamber was related to art. Thus, it was also related to martial arts. Suddenly, Cao Yun had understood something new about the Way of the Spear.
Although it was barely noticeable, he altered the move he had found almost perfect himself. He had been too arrogant to think so. Perfection was impossible to reach. And the closer one was, the more difficult it was to go forward.
At that very moment, Cao Yun focused all of his Spear Aura at a single point on the tip of his spear. He had achieved Spear Intent!