In total, Cao Yun had been trapped in the Blood Abyss for over two years by then. But those two years had given him so many benefits that he was rather pleased. Of course, the pain had been intolerable and the sight of his own flesh being consumed hadn't been pleasant at all. Few people could claim that they had seen parts of their organs through their flesh. And honestly, this wasn't something Cao Yun would like to boast about. On the other hand, he now had proof that his blood cultivation was extremely impressive. Even normal Accomplished Demons wouldn't be able to regenerate entire limbs so easily. For humans, it was even worse and even with miraculous pills, the regenerated flesh wouldn't be as sturdy as the previous one. In other words, they would need to retrain their limbs for quite some time. But demons had their cultivation in their blood, not in their Qi, so the regrown parts would retain the full cultivation.
In fact, only a Reborn Demon could easily regenerate their limbs through their cultivation alone, without any pill or outside help. Most likely, Cao Yun had such an ability thanks to the Drop of Wrath. After all, it had already healed him the first time he had been left for dead in a ravine. Hopefully, this wouldn't become a habit of his. Even now, he had been thrown in there while they were using the girl he was trying to protect.
Thinking like that, Cao Yun remembered Xixue and her probable fate. Hopefully she was still alive. Honestly speaking, he wasn't deeply attached to her but he had taken a liking to the girl and he certainly didn't want her to die, especially not in such a manner. In the back of his mind, he saw her as he was seeing himself. Indeed, she was trying to save her own sister who had been forcibly enrolled within the Sisters of the Abyss, like Huiying had become Emperor Weide's daughter. Yinlü had probably been indoctrinated in some capacity so it wouldn't be easy to make her leave. And that was also Cao Yun's problem with his own sister. Unless he could awaken the memories within her, convincing her that Emperor Weide was evil would be difficult.
While he was a bit anxious about Xixue's fate, Cao Yun knew that there was nothing he could do if he didn't become powerful enough. After all, High Mother Qin Xue was a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. And she was in her place of power. Most likely, she could harness some of the power of the Blood Abyss for herself. Thus, even escaping from her would be incredibly difficult. Cao Yun did not even entertain the idea of facing her in battle. He would be crushed in an instant. According to that line of logic, he decided to focus on his stealth by incorporating 'Blood Mirage Manifestation' within his 'Ashen Feather Seal'. Thanks to his knowledge of seals and blood runes, it was incredibly easy. In fact, he used the last chapter Huang Liyue had left unfinished, 'Blood Withers While Life Flourishes'. It had been tailored for her specific bloodline but he was able to adapt it.
The other thing he focused on, except for his blood and mind cultivation, was 'Crimson Pact of Subjugation'. He practiced the various movements, poses, recited the mantras and circulated his blood in the manner explained by what little information he had gleaned from the few memories within the Blood Abyss. The most important part though was what they called the tapestry. To put it simply, it was a way of creating a complex seal using one's blood. That seal was spread throughout one's body and it was the way one used to harness the Blood Abyss.
Unfortunately, Cao Yun didn't have the full shape of that so-called tapestry. However, he had a better memory of the calligraphy he had obtained. So he got the idea of trying to duplicate it. At first, it was a bit hard. Even with his memory, that calligraphy was very difficult to remember. In a sense, it was a form of Insight Writing. Only someone who fully understood it could replicate it. Thankfully, Cao Yun had already subdued two Turbid Demons and was close to subduing the Stinking Lungs. As such, he was able to duplicate some of the shape.
The results were very positive. Indeed, the Blood Abyss responded to this tapestry with even more strength than the actual 'Crimson Pact of Subjugation'. After all it had been drawn by the Weaver of Souls using his knowledge of the best cultivation technique he had written. So the remnants of his intent still within the Blood Abyss were attracted to it. In fact, Cao Yun was able to absorb some of the purest blood within the Blood Abyss. There were almost no memories from sacrificed women.
Moreover, his Drop of Wrath absorbed said blood fully, what the Sisters couldn't do. Using this technique, they were only able to harness some of the Blood Abyss in order to improve their cultivation. First of all, they had very muddy blood. But worse than that, they couldn't fully absorb it and had to relinquish it soon after.
Within this blood, Cao Yun could feel the Weaver of Souls' indignation. Although he had died a long time ago, his intent had survived. Even now, it wasn't completely exhausted. His mind was gone. His spirit had been consumed. His soul had been destroyed. His memories were blurry. But his intent had been supported by his will and desires, his obsession if you will. And Cao Yun was the answer to his obsession, his 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks' had endured. His life's work had endured. As such, Cao Yun received a lot of his memories.
The Weaver of Souls hadn't been a saint. In fact, when he was still working with Demon God Da Mo, he had committed many crimes. However, he ended up regretting his actions as he developed his soul cultivation. He realized that cruelty and savagery were what held demons back. Most of his life on the Piaolu planet had been spent crossing asura and humans. Demon God Da Mo and Fangzhi Hunpo had come to this planet with eight other demons. So they had to impregnate many human women for their experiments...
The demons slowly woke up Fangzhi Hunpo. He realized that their emotions were too unstable because of the asura blood. From that, he recognized the same thing in himself. And with time, he realized what monstrosities he had committed. His experiments had really been terrible. Even through the small glimpses that remained, Cao Yun was repulsed by them. But Fangzhi Hunpo had truly done everything he could to redeem himself. He had even aligned himself with Emperor Nuwa. There was one specific memory in which he literally helped her escape Demon God Da Mo's clutches. Without him, she would have died that day and humans would have remained slaves. In other words, a full-fledged asura who had enslaved mankind was also responsible for their liberation.
Seeing a summary of the Weaver of Souls' life opened Cao Yun's eyes. Although he had not done anything as monstrous, Cao Yun had grappled with morality recently. He knew that slavery was one of the worst crimes he could imagine apart from total obliteration. However, he had been forced to turn a blind eye to it for his own purposes, even helping Boss Gui find a way to poison her own slaves in a more efficient way. All this time, he had comforted himself with the fact that he would ultimately find a way to stop such a barbaric practice. But the truth was that this was an issue way beyond what he could solve. He was just one man.
Witnessing such a depraved individual slowly becoming a moral pillar was eye opening. If even Demon God Da Mo's brother could realize the errors of his ways, there was truly hope for everyone. Some would refuse to accept it until the end, but enough might be convinced. Slowly, a new vision of the world was emerging in Cao Yun's mind. The worst person could become good. And the best person could become evil incarnate. Cao Yun really didn't want to become a saint or a hero. On the other hand, he didn't want to disregard his own moral compass. This was a fight of every moment and he was now decided not to lose it.
While all that was going on in his mind, his thoughts on the matter were still a bit immature and he would need time and experience to sort it out. But his Stinking Lungs, related to corruption, was becoming slightly weaker. Recognizing that he himself could be corrupted even without realizing it until it was too late was an important step for Cao Yun.
Amidst those memories, there was a more immediate reward though. Indeed, there was the full version of 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art'. The remaining five chapters he had not seen were all there.
The fifth chapter 'Sewing Soul and Blood' explained how one could use their own blood threads within their very mind. Combined with 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks', this would be a huge improvement on Cao Yun's mind cultivation.
The sixth chapter 'Veil of the Blood Moon' explained how to draw power from the Moon itself. Contrary to the Sun that was Yang, the Moon was Yin. Because demons tended to be too excited and had uncontrolled emotions, this was a good way to calm them down. Of course, it could still help Cao Yun, but it wasn't that important to him.
The seventh chapter 'Crimson Web of Enslavement' explained how one could use the very same principles as 'Sewing Soul and Blood' but in someone else's mind. In other words, it was a soul attack. Until now, Cao Yun had not found such an attack. And since he had developed his spiritual senses, this was something he could actually use during a fight. He might be able to attack someone on several fronts at the same time. Besides, a cultivator without spiritual senses would have a very hard time defending against such an attack. They would be more or less forced to just rely on their will.
The eighth chapter 'Blood Abyss Manifest' was also extremely interested as it explained how to fully use the strength of the Blood Abyss, the Weaver of Blood's own bloodline. By mastering this technique, one could harness and control the entire Blood Abyss. However, it wasn't possible to absorb it. In a sense, it was like using a weapon.
Finally, the ninth chapter 'Eternal Weaver's Ascendancy' explained how one could completely merge with the Weaver of Souls' bloodline. As such, they would become the master of the Blood Abyss.
What Cao Yun didn't know was that even High Mother Qin Xue herself had not a single character from the last two chapters. Even the 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art' taught to the Sisters of the Abyss had been completed by inventing two different chapters because those were missing. High Mother Qin Xue would have given anything just to catch of glimpse of those chapters. And yet, Cao Yun had them both, complete. If she knew about this, she would literally lose her mind. After all, she had gone to so much trouble in order to have a slight chance of absorbing part of the bloodline within the Blood Abyss. But with the entire art, it was possible to become the master of the entire Blood Abyss.
Something Cao Yun did notice though was that no chapter talked about any form of sacrifice. The Sisters of the Abyss had invented that practice because it made things easier for them. The more he looked into it, the more he realized how foolish it was. Yes, it had allowed them to create a vast underground lake of blood. But most of this blood was just from other demons and not the Weaver of Souls. In fact, they had diluted it more than they had protected it. As such, they were forced to make more and more sacrifices just to prevent the original properties of the blood from disappearing. And sacrificing people who had a poor understanding of the 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art' was the worst decision possible. It would have been better to sacrifice those who had pushed it all the way.
Examining it again and again, Cao Yun was absolutely certain of his analysis. But he was convinced that High Mother Qin Xue could not have missed it either. She was deliberately perpetuating these foolish sacrifices while they were ineffective and monstrous. Quantity was seldom better than quantity. And in this case, this held true as well.
Since he was still stuck at the bottom, he couldn't do a thing about it though. However, he had found something that could give him an edge while confronting High Mother Qin Xue. And he was looking for more. Thus, he kept on practicing his blood cultivation alongside 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art'.
'Crimson Pact of Subjugation' was mastered very quickly and 'Sewing Soul and Blood' brought him a lot of benefits in his mind cultivation. Within his sea of consciousness, he was able to turn his entire ocean into blood and then spin the blood into threads. From those threads, he could create complex webs in order to chain down his Turbid Demons. Flying Poison and Unclean Evil were already chained into the Nine Soul Peaks. So he summoned them and tried out various ways of forming webs to so the results. With enough training, it would make subduing the other Turbid Demons a bit easier. But this wasn't a miraculous method either. After all, Cao Yun was already using the masterpiece of the Weaver of Souls, 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'.
Cao Yun completely disregarded 'Veil of the Blood Moon'. After all, he was trapped underground so absorbing the energy of the Moon was out of the question. And the technique itself wasn't that interesting to him either. However, 'Crimson Web of Enslavement' was enticing. That being said, he was much more interested in the last two chapters 'Blood Abyss Manifest' and 'Eternal Weaver's Ascendancy' as they would be of incredible help to get out of this situation. So he focused on those chapters. Thankfully, it wasn't necessary to master them in order, although it would make things easier for most cultivator.