In Cao Yun's body, the Blood Abyss was wreaking havoc. It was attracted to his Drop of Wrath like a moth to a flame. But this blood seemed to be smarter than a moth as it was avoiding the Drop of Wrath itself, or maybe it was preventing the blood from getting too close to Cao Yun's heart. Honestly, Cao Yun had no time to think much about it. He was thankful that his life was safe for now. However, the pain and torment were unbearable. Indeed, the Blood Abyss had invaded all of his flesh, almost everywhere in his body. Even his Dantian were under assault as were his meridians and vessels.
If Cao Yun's Qi cultivation had been weaker, he would have died as his meridians, Dantian and even Extraordinary Vessels would have been consumed by this blood. Thankfully, he was literally working on tempering his meridians and had even begun to improve on his vessels even though it was the point of his next cultivation grade. As his meridians were being corroded, the world tree's seed acted upon. Throughout his entire body, his meridians and vessels became as the roots of the world tree he had seen in Cleansed Asura's inner world. Until now, he had mostly used it to temper his meridians using Water Qi, Fire Qi and the Wood element of the seed. But now, it was acting on its own to protect itself, also strengthening his meridians in the process. That being said, his meridians were being slowly devoured, but just like the rest of his flesh, they were being healed faster than they could be damaged.
In fact, Cao Yun's meridians were healed much faster than his flesh thanks to this world tree's energy. The Blood Abyss was not even able to penetrate his meridians, vessels or Dantian. Thus, the young human would be safe for much longer, as long as he could withstand the intense pain.
This intense pain was precisely what had allowed his Turbid Demons to go out of control completely. His sea of consciousness had turned entirely red. Not only was the sea made of blood, even the sky had a crimson shade as though the stars themselves had bled. The Drop of Wrath had fully manifested the form of Axiu Qian. With his two shining golden eyes, he was observing as the Turbid Demons were fully manifesting themselves.
The Unclean Evil had taken on a physical appearance in Cao Yun's mind. Even though everything within his sea of consciousness was just a form of mental representation, a very real smell assaulted Cao Yun's senses. It was worse than everything he had ever smelled as it was not from the physical world. Unable to fully describe it, he would have resorted to colorful images such as rotting corpses and feces of the most horrid kind. Such a stench was arguably worse than the pain he was suffering through. At least, it distracted him from it for a few seconds. But the physical pain of having his flesh, his very muscles, burned away and regrown over and over again was simply too intense to be forgotten long.
A large portion of the blood sea turned gray and brownish as a form of black sludge emerged from it. At first, it was a shapeless blob slowly rising to the surface of the water. Soon though, it began to assume the form of a tall and slender creature. It barely looked human as it was completely deformed with proportions that didn't make any sense at all. Although it was extremely tall, its arms were way too long with a couple joints too many. At the end of those arms, there were incredibly long talons. Fully yellow and rotten, those talons were partially immersed in the black sludge covering the sea under the creature.
That sludge was still falling from the emaciated body of the tall creature, so much so that it was difficult to make out if it had skin, fur, scales or even his facial features. From what looked like his face, there were only two yellowish lights piercing through the blackish horrid sludge. Unlike the golden lights of Axiu Qian's eyes, this yellow color seemed sickly. On the long spine of the creature, there were thousands of spikes, some very small and some incredibly long, as much as his talons.
When it finally moved, it let out of deep growl. Even its mouth was impossible to see through the black sludge covering its body. But as it screamed, the Unclean Evil spread the disgusting smell everywhere within Cao Yun's sea of consciousness. Any mortal would have fainted if they had smelled or seen such a creature in real life. In fact, the pain assaulting Cao Yun was paradoxically helping him distract himself from such a sight. In particular, it was helping him forget that this abomination was in fact a literal part of his soul. It was the form of his perverted Po of Qi, distorted by his feelings of shame. And he had much shame indeed.
Fortunately, the Stinking Lungs was not fully formed yet as Cao Yun had worked on it for a shorter time. That being said, that third Turbid Demon was undoubtedly starting to take on a physical appearance too. Before long, Cao Yun knew he would have to deal with the two of them at the same time. Clearly, working on two Turbid Demons had been a bad decision. But this had not been the worse decision he had made recently...
"Brat, look at what you've done! Your stupidity caused this and now we're both going to die! You know what?! I refuse to die with you, stupid brat!"
Dian Mo's Palace of Supreme Wisdom suddenly grew. It was now the size of the real Palace of Supreme Wisdom Cao Yun had seen in the Wubei Sect. Besides, it was floating in the red sky and being reflected in the blood sea below. It had completely left the Nine Soul Peaks but was still towering over Cao Yun's sea of consciousness in its very center.
"This Drop of Wrath is the only thing keeping your body alive at the moment. But it seems like your very soul won't survive for long. Leave me the blood of this ancient asura and I swear that I'll rip apart your enemy. Emperor Weide will die by my hands. And I can even promise to spare your sister and our friends any pain."
"Old geezer, you think I'm stupid?! I've known who you were for some time now. You're not Dian Mo! You're Demon King Mo Wang!"
From the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, a strange fire burned as though a lantern. From this flame, an evil and maniacal laugh erupted.
"Brat, you're absolutely correct. Still, Dian Mo is not completely gone yet. As such, attacking me would be like attacking him and you made a vow not to injure him at all. You vowed on your Dao Heart. If you try to break this vow, the backlash will be so severe that you will have no chance at all against even a single Turbid Demon. Brat, think about it. You're going to die, this is a given. But if you surrender your gifts to me, I can survive and make your vengeance a reality."
Unfortunately, Demon King Mo Wang's words were true. If Dian Mo had been completely destroyed, Cao Yun would have felt it for sure. Thus, he was just barely alive. In fact, Mo Wang had probably been unable to kill him so he had just subdued him. Besides, Mo Wang had nothing to do. Cao Yun's soul was under attack by a part of itself. If he just waited long enough, he could take over Cao Yun's sea of consciousness just like he had taken over Dian Mo. Most likely, he was just hoping to get it as fast as possible so he would increase his chances of survival. Indeed, despite his words, Cao Yun could feel desperation in his tone. Even he wasn't sure he could survive, and that didn't fill Cao Yun with confidence.
Before he could answer anything, Cao Yun was forced to divert all of his attention toward the Unclean Evil. Although it was far from Axiu Qian, it raised its arms. Its talons were so long that they immediately could pierce through Axiu Qian's figure. They even lacerated the Nine Soul Peaks, leaving imprints in them and cutting apart some of the green roots from the world tree. As a result, Cao Yun's meridians suffered instantly as the world tree's vitality flickered. Even his Upper Dantian was seized by acute pain.
Axiu Qian's chest was literally pierced by those talons. Without any hesitation, he grabbed them and broke them apart. With some fragments of them in hand, he threw them toward the Unclean Evil. Without any reaction, the Turbid Demon received them both in its head and chest too. They simply disappeared within the black sludge. From its arms, the black sludge flowed over its broken talons and they grew longer and longer once more.
From Axiu Qian's six arms, various weapons appeared. Before he could use any of them though, the black sludge suddenly erupted from Unclean Evil and stuck to the red body of the asura, infecting him with its pestilence. Unlike Unclean Evil who seemed to be almost immobile, Axiu Qian moved suddenly. His speed was incredible and he suddenly appeared behind his enemy. With a cudgel, he struck the head of the Turbid Demon. Its head literally caved in as the cudgel went all the way to the ocean below. However, its body turned into black sludge and mud. It was as though Axiu Qian had struck a kind of viscous liquid.
As this black ooze was spilling under Axiu Qian, it began to crawl all over his legs. Before he could do anything, something else happened to Cao Yun. Because Cao Yun was now fully connected to his Drop of Wrath, the mental projection of Axiu Qian was also affected. The more Cao Yun was using his Drop of Wrath, the more violent the Blood Abyss was getting. By the time he was manifesting the full version of Axiu Qian, the Blood Abyss was in a frenzy, trying to invade his body.
Cao Yun's flesh was being consumed faster and faster. As a consequence, his blood cultivation and even his Qi cultivation were pushed to their limits just to regrow his tissues. In order to do so of course, Cao Yun was consuming large quantities of his own Qi and blood. As much as both were extremely dense, he would never be able to keep it up forever. His only chance was to either leave or to learn to absorb the Blood Abyss itself. And leaving was impossible as High Mother Qin Xue would sense anything erupting from the pits.
At the time however, Cao Yun was just to busy keeping his mind in check. He was literally attacked on all fronts and was acting out of despair. If Dian Mo could help him, he would have had a better chance, but he now knew the truth he had feared for some time. Even if Demon King Mo Wang had not attacked him directly, the young man knew that he was simply waiting for the right opportunity. And Cao Yun couldn't really divert his attention while Unclean Evil was attacking him and Stinking Lungs' threat was looming over his head.
The Blood Abyss was clearly trying to destroy his body to finally break the Drop of Wrath free from him. Indeed, if Cao Yun was dead, the Drop of Wrath would become without a master, ripe for the taking. By fully controlling the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun had paradoxically made it less difficult to be taken from him. But it wasn't easy either. After all, Cao Yun would use all the strength of the Drop of Wrath, even if he had to consume all of it.
As the Unclean Evil's taint was spreading through both Axiu Qian's figure and Cao Yun's sea of consciousness, he could literally feel his shame as though it was a disgusting taste in his mouth and a repulsive smell in his nose. The sensation was physical as well as emotional. He remembered all those who had died for him. He remembered all his poor decisions, all the heinous acts he had let happen around him because he was weak and afraid to act.
"Brat, this shame will devour you alive. This is your last chance. Surrender yourself to me and I can even preserve some part of your soul."
"Humph! Are you really trying to convince me or are you just trying to instill doubt in me so that I feel even more shame?! My Dao Heart won't be swayed by your ridiculous words! As a demonic cultivator, you have no idea what shame is. Unlike you, I have a sense of propriety. Shame is a perfectly natural and healthy emotion to have. In fact, I am glad not to be a shameless old geezer like you. The day I don't feel shame is the day I should reflect on myself the most."
"Brat, big words for someone being devoured by his own Turbid Demons! I got rid of your Dian Mo, I'll get rid of you. In fact, I have nothing to do but to wait. If you're too stupid to accept my proposal, I'll just watch as your very soul is perverted. Struggle, brat, struggle. The weaker your Turbid Demon is after devouring you, the easier it will be for me to subdue him and take over your body."
Unfortunately, Demon King Mo Wang was right with his last remark. Even if Cao Yun won against his Turbid Demons, the old spirit would simply need to wait long enough. As long as he destroyed Cao Yun's mind before his body was too much damaged, he would win. Besides, Cao Yun would be too busy trying to survive to even try to fight Demon King Mo Wang. Moreover, he technically couldn't attack Dian Mo's remnant without breaking his vow and risking some serious mental damage.
In other words, Cao Yun was in a very terrible position. However, it wasn't hopeless. As shame was spreading through him, Cao Yun also remembered all those times he had almost died and had survived anyway. Dian Mo was not completely dead either. And Cao Yun had realized that something was wrong with him for some time now. Hopefully, his preparations would be enough.
While he was still trying to resist the Unclean Evil, Cao Yun finally summoned his Flying Poison. From one of Axiu Qian's six arms, the creature covered in green hair, almost looking like moss, flew in the air and dove toward his legs. With its bony tails, its claws and even its feet, the subdued Turbid Demon tried to get the black sludge off Axiu Qian's red skin. At that moment, a shrilling sound echoed throughout Cao Yun's sea of consciousness as Demon King Mo Wang was watching gleefully.