Sister Lisha had finally organized the other Sisters. Anyone below the Accomplished Demon realm had left the Blood Abyss chambers. At that point, they would only be a burden. Besides, the very ground was covered in the corrosive blood of the Blood Abyss. The crimes of the Sisterhood had literally come back tot he surface to attack them. Although Sister Lisha did feel guilty, she simply couldn't let Cao Yun kill High Mother Qin Xue. Because, it certainly looked like he had the upper hand for now.
In truth, Cao Yun was really struggling to keep up with her. At the moment, he wasn't holding anything back. In fact, he was even pushing a bit too far but the Blood Abyss was helping him. While it was strengthening him, it was also a real threat to anyone else. Moreover, he had a psychological advantage on them. After all, he was in their holy place and he had just come out of the pit in which they believed the blood of their god was. It really was of course, but they had corrupted it overtime.
Now that Sister Lisha was organizing the Sisters, they became dangerous. Floating in the air, they began to chant the verses of 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art'. Even though they didn't quite formed a battle formation, it was very similar. In reality, it was a variant of blood runes and seals. 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art' emphasized a lot the use of complex webs, like tapestries. As such, each Sister was creating her own piece of a much more complex web. All of them together, with Sister Lisha's guidance, turned out to be extremely powerful. Truth be told, they might have beaten High Mother Qin Xue. And in their own Monastery of Bliss and Repose, they would have even been able to kill a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon, maybe even a 1st-grade Exalted Demon. Of course, like humans, no demons had been able to cross into the fourth cultivation realm in the current Forsaken Dao Era.
Cao Yun felt them immediately but so did High Mother Qin Xue. She couldn't let go of such an opportunity. Thus, she did everything she could to stop Cao Yun from interfering. Her tattoos shined through her clothes. Their light literally cut through the fabric of her robe. All around her, strange feathers appeared. In their seas of consciousness, the three-eyed eagle's feathers scattered all over the place. Its main body was still covered in feathers of course, but many more had just appeared. They were trying to stick to Axiu Qian's body. Waving his giant mace around, he tried to send them away but it was almost impossible.
At last, he opened the lid of his gourd. A putrid smell spread. The feathers closest to him simply fell down as if they had lost all life. The Stinking Lungs was a very potent and corrosive force, fighting off the very soul of High Mother Qin Xue. After all, everything happening in that space was really happening in their minds. As nothing was truly physical, this was a battle of the will. Although demons had stronger wills in general, humans knew more about manipulating their soul and mind. As such, Cao Yun ended up having a small advantage. He had a strong will and knew how to use it.
Besides, High Mother Qin Xue was only using techniques from 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art' and Cao Yun had the real and complete version of it. Even the Sisters chanting in the air were poorly pronouncing the Antique Sixian. It was obvious that their art was inferior to what he had in his mind. But it was still powerful, just not as powerful as it should have been. That being said, that also meant that Cao Yun knew how to get rid of it.
In the physical world, High Mother Qin Xue was trying to keep her distance with Cao Yun. But at the same time, she didn't want him to move around. Unfortunately, her threads turned out to be useless in that endeavor. After pushing them away, Cao Yun focused his Spear Intent on his Black Heart Flame spear. From the Blood Abyss, blood rose and formed a whirlwind around the tip of this spear. From the Horn Constellation, the stars animated themselves. They all descended toward Cao Yun, taking on the shape of a large Azure Dragon.
At the same moment, the Heart Star was pulsating with deep crimson shades. It was as though it was echoing the Blood Abyss down below. Within Cao Yun's veins, his Golden Blood was moving like crazy. And in his meridians, the excess of Fire Qi had invaded everything. Had he had weaker meridians, they would have ruptured, and so would have his veins. This was 'Dragon's Heart' pushed to its limit. Thanks to that technique, he could increase his overall strength eightfold. In fact, he had been using it since the start of the fight, but he was trying to push it even further thanks to the Blood Abyss. Any tiny increase was phenomenal at this point.
The Azure Dragon reached Cao Yun's back and slithered its way onto the shaft of his weapon. As soon as it happened, the spearman released his attack. The Azure Dragon's talons and fangs were covered in the Black Heart Flame as though it was breathing it out. At the same time, its blue scales were covered in the dark blood of the Blood Abyss. When it moved through the air, it looked like a dragon made out of blood and shadows.
High Mother Qin Xue was ready to receive this attack. The feathers all around her formed some kind of shield while others were sent flying toward the incoming spear. Cao Yun's Spear Intent had turned the spear into a breathing blood dragon but it was still a spear move.
When the attack was supposed to connect, nothing happened. High Mother Qin Xue realized that she had been duped. Cao Yun had used his Spear Intent and his mind cultivation to trick her. The attack was real but her perception of it had been completely wrong. It had never be aimed at her, in fact, it was aimed at Sister Lisha's group. But that also meant that the feathers she had sent to collide with it reached Cao Yun instead.
'The Son of Heaven's Spear and Shield'!
Receiving the attack in full, Cao Yun's body got covered in scales, forming a large armor around him. Still, many feathers cut into it and literally went through Cao Yun's body. A few of his organs were pierce but he had focused his defense on his three Dantian, protecting both his head and his heart at the same time. That being said, High Mother Qin Xue's attack was indeed powerful and his left arm was almost cut clean off. Without the Blood Abyss to regenerate him, he would have lost this limb. And outside of this Blood Abyss, he wasn't sure whether he could grow back another arm. In fact, he was mostly certain he couldn't, yet.
After taking this much punishment, he converted all of that into strength. Instead of feathers, it was scales he sent forth. A large part of them were aimed at High Mother Qin Xue again, but several scales went directly toward Sister Lisha's group.
As she was coordinating the other Sisters, Sister Lisha was free to act while her Sisters were busy chanting.
Although she wasn't as strong as High Mother Qin Xue, she was still a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon. In other words, she was theoretically stronger than Cao Yun. Of course, the young man had clear advantages here thanks to the Blood Abyss. But passing through her defenses would still be extremely difficult.
'Heavenly Dome of Blood'!
Sister Lisha didn't even hesitate to use the Blood Abyss. With her knowledge of 'Blood Abyss Manifest', she tried to increase her own strength. Around the Sisters, the shape of a moon made out of blood appeared. Cao Yun's scales reached it first as they were smaller, lighter and thus faster than his spear. Not a single one was able to pierce through this large dome. However, it was made in parts with the Blood Abyss. And Cao Yun had a greater control over it.
After his scales, the spear had no trouble finding its way inside the large dome.
Sister Lisha retracted it immediately. Instead, she focused her own blood. With her bare hands, she grabbed the bloody dragon. The mere contact with the blood of the Blood Abyss burned her skin. In an instant, her very bones were touching the dragon's scales. At the same time, the Black Heart Flame was assaulting her. It was even more corrosive than the Blood Abyss as it was mostly made out of Evil Qi. Cao Yun was probably the only one on the Piaolu planet who could control it without any problem. Even demonic cultivators were much more cautious than he was when dealing with Evil Qi. Besides, his mind cultivation had even pushed his mastery further. Soon, he might even be able to turn his own Qi into Evil Qi and back.
Indeed, Evil Qi was simply Qi contaminated with negative emotions. By harnessing his own Turbid Demons, he could manifest the same properties in his Qi. And since it would be his emotions, he could control them and retract them easily. In a sense, it would be like merging Qi and soul in a single substance.
Still trying to stop the spear, Sister Lisha's flank was pierced. From her entire body, thousands of threads appeared. A bloody shawl also manifested itself around her shoulders and arms. All the threads coiled themselves around the spear while her shawl slithered its way onto the dragon's body. The blood and the flames were corroded both threads and shawl but Sister Lisha didn't let go. Even though she had a hole in her flank, she didn't let go. Maybe this was her punishment for letting the High Mother sacrifice so many people. But she couldn't let her be killed.
If High Mother Qin Xue was killed, their entire order might fall. Cao Yun's fury wouldn't stop just there. Sister Lisha had an ominous feeling that everything she had dedicated her life to might collapse in a single day. There was a presence behind Cao Yun that was terrifying her.
With all her efforts, the bloody shawl perfectly covered the dragon's body. Then, the threads spun around it and nailed themselves into the walls of the Blood Abyss chamber. The spear was perfectly immobile now, still stabbed into Sister Lisha's flank. But the wound wasn't fatal. She simply controlled her bloodstream to preserve her blood. But the Black Heart Flame and the Blood Abyss were still assaulting her. She didn't know how long she could last, but she was strong enough to resist several days maybe. In fact, she could have avoided the spear or even parried it. But she had to defend her Sisters at the moment.
Finally, their chanting was over just when High Mother Qin Xue was ready to attack Cao Yun once more. Everything in this fight had happened in an instant. After all, they were all very powerful cultivators. As such, they could exchange thousands of moves in a single breath. Despite the strength of their attacks, their bodies were also extremely resilient. As such, a fight between powerhouses could last very long. According to the legends, Emperor Nuwa and Demon God Da Mo had fought each other for almost four years before a victor was finally decided. Most likely, it was indeed legends. But the fight should still have lasted a lot of time, several days maybe, even more than a few weeks. It was hard to say for sure.
Hopefully, Cao Yun wouldn't fight for several days. He really didn't have the stamina to hold his current strength for this long. Everything in his body and even soul was screaming at him to stop. But he didn't!
Before High Mother Qin Xue could attack again, she moved back. Immediately, the dozen or so of Accomplished Demon Sisters had formed their blood runes. They formed a giant red moon above them. It even eclipsed some of the Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars. Only the Heart Star was able to shine such a bright red. Cao Yun felt the vitality from his blood being sapped. At the same time, High Mother Qin Xue's blood was gushing forth. She was feeling stronger than ever. The difference was so great that Cao Yun turned pale while she was blushing.
"This is your end, devil! You tried to usurp our god's blood! Die!"
All the threads around High Mother Qin Xue coalesced into a shadowy figure. It looked like the giant maw of a dragon with fangs made out of solid dark blood. It went straight for Cao Yun. The crimson light of the blood moon seemed to increase both its strength and its ferocity.
Weakened, Cao Yun didn't even try to dodge or block it. Instead, he began to chant.
Contrary to High Mother Qin Xue or the Sisters, his words were true Antique Sixian. With help from the Weaver of Souls' memories and what he had already heard in Axiu Qian's memories, he knew exactly what it was supposed to sound like and he could speak it as well as a native speaker. Unlike the Sisters, his grammar was perfect and his pronunciation indiscernible from the real deal. Besides, his voice also contained the intent of the Weaver of Souls, or at least, what remained of it after all the corruption by the Sisters of the Abyss.
The Blood Abyss down below shined brighter than the blood moon. The entire formation created by the Sisters collapsed and the moon broke apart. Pieces of it fell toward the ground in a terrible explosion. Even High Mother Qin Xue was forced to move or she would have been crushed. On the other hand, her monster got completely flattened by a large piece of the blood moon. The Sisters had poured most of their blood cultivation into it. As such, it was powerful enough to destroy High Mother Qin Xue's Qi Manifestation. As a result, she received a powerful backlash.
Worse than that, all the Sisters, even the High Mother, felt their blood reversing itself in their veins. All of them had a terrible sensation, as if a giant mastodon was sitting on their chest. Cao Yun's words and intent were suppressing their bloodline. There was no doubt about it.