From all around the caravans, large pillars of fire erupted. They broke through the sand and reached the sky until even the late Golden Blood Children couldn't see their summits. Cao Yun had crafted this array formation himself by using the Fire Qi that was so abundant in the sand of the desert. Honestly, it wasn't a very powerful array formation and a joint effort by the tribes would have been enough to break it apart. In fact, this array formation was more of a spectacle than anything else. Although it could have trapped any single individual present, it would never be able to hold the entire group captive.
Just as the pillars emerged from the ground, Hongyu let out a powerful screech. Using his spiritual senses, Cao Yun also put a lot of pressure of everyone's soul. But this wasn't just to intimidate them. His goal was more prosaic. Throughout the crowd, he searched for traces of seals left behind by City Lord Sihe and his supporters. When he had snuck into the tribes to talk to Sha Chai Gan, he had also looked for them. Many tribesmen had been marked by various seals without even knowing it.
Those were not Slavery Brands as they would have been recognized by most. Besides, they couldn't be placed on others discreetly. Instead, those seals had clearly been placed as a way to subdue the tribesmen if need be. Obviously, no one in the Sun Scorpion Clan had any seal at all. All those seals had been put on dignitaries of the other tribes. At a moment's notice, the Sun Scorpion Clan's Patriarch could probably kill them or simply inflict enough pain to subdue them.
Cao Yun's first move was to get rid of all those seals. His goal was to reveal Patriarch Liang Lisheng's lies and to kill him so Sha Chai Gan would take over. She would serve his interests better. And his interests were perfectly aligned with the tribes this time. He wanted them to campaign against City Lord Sihe and to not attack innocent citizens of the Nalupu Kingdom. Through Sha Chai Gan and General Sha Lang Hu, he was convinced he could achieve both objectives.
The few Sisters of the Abyss hidden among the crowd had been warned of this attack, even though they didn't know who Cao Yun was exactly. There were five Sisters who were all late Golden Blood Children. Only one of them was an early Accomplished Demon and she was also the only one who knew about Cao Yun's real identity. Like High Mother Lisha and the other Accomplished Demon Sisters, Cao Yun had put a seal in her sea of consciousness. As such, she was loyal to him as she didn't have a choice. However, she was also impressed by his appearance. She had seen him fight High Mother Qin Xue, but now he was attacking tens of thousands of people. Even Lord Wanghuo couldn't win such a fight. The only advantage for Cao Yun was his ability to fly away.
Obviously, Cao Yun had no intention of fighting all the tribes, but he had every intention of crushing Patriarch Liang Lisheng and anyone who would get in his way. Thankfully, Sha Chai Gan, her supporters, and the Sisters were making sure that almost no other tribe took part in the conflict.
Hongyu was now in the center of the fiery cage. Her majestic aura made her look like a small sun above everyone else. While she stayed there, Cao Yun jumped down. His robe was fluttering in the air as the sudden heat was causing some violent wind. Looking down below, he could perceive the various emotions coursing through the crowd. In particular, he was focused on the Sun Scorpion Clan. Patriarch Liang Lisheng was terrified as he had recognized his enemy. Cao Yun was probably strong enough to crush him in an instant and he had no reason not to do so.
This wasn't Cao Yun's intention though. Indeed, he had to make sure that the tribes would target their hostility toward City Lord Sihe. If he simply killed Patriarch Liang Lisheng, it would be difficult to do so. Instead, Cao Yun and Boss Gui would become their target. Even Sha Chai Gan would have a hard time reining them in. And the Sun Scorpion Clan could rise to power once more. And even slaughtering the entire Sun Scorpion Clan would accomplish little. Besides, there were children among the clan, albeit a few, so Cao Yun would not kill them. He could assassinate someone like Weiji Bao, but he would not kill little kids who had done nothing wrong.
Fortunately, Cao Yun had thought about that beforehand. And the seals planted by City Lord Sihe's sides for Patriarch Liang Lisheng would be helpful in this endeavor.
"Patriarch Liang Lisheng! I have come back to clear my name of your slanderous lies!"
"You...!"
"Silence!"
Cao Yun's soul crushed Patriarch Liang Lisheng. In an instant, he felt as though he was in a freezing ocean of blood. The stench was assaulting his senses while his body was quivering. This was Cao Yun's 'Weeping Demon' at full strength. Now that he was a full-fledged Spirit Warrior, he could use powerful mind and soul attacks. Besides, 'Weeping Demon' relied on one's Po so his asura cultivation was ideal for it. Even Chief Elder Lümian from the soul and mind pavilion would have been impressed by it. Cao Yun could combine the strength of an asura soul and the subtlety of the human soul. He wasn't yet as powerful as a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior or a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon, but his strength was comparable to higher stages of those realms.
Obviously, Patriarch Liang Lisheng couldn't do a single thing against such an onslaught. In fact, he couldn't even move or speak. Worse than that, he could barely breathe. For a 9th-grade Golden Blood Child, this wasn't much of an issue. But the sensation of someone preventing him to breathe made Patriarch Liang Lisheng more than nervous. It meant that Cao Yun could really kill him with a thought. He had to mobilize all of his strength if he intended to survive. And no matter what, he did intend to survive. Even against an Accomplished Demon, he had a secret weapon hidden in his spatial ring. He simply had to wait for the right opportunity.
In Patriarch Liang Lisheng's mind, he merely had to injure or even distract Cao Yun so all the tribes would unite against him. No matter how strong he was, he would not be able to fight tens of thousands of demons. Obviously, he was right on that account, but he was wrong to think that the tribes would unite for him.
"Lady Sha Chai Gan, I pay my respects to your father. His end was a disgrace. Such a man should never have suffered so. But the true culprit has been revealed. Weiji Nian was the one who ordered the attack on the Sand Wolves Tribe. I won't shy away from the truth. She attacked you to get to me, but unfortunately I had been away at the time. This will not bring Chieftain Sha Chai Ren back but her own Bloodfire Vermilion Haze claimed her life. However, she did not act alone. She used her family's influence as well as mercenaries working for City Lord Sihe.
"Once again, I'll be honest. I do not know whether City Lord Sihe was aware of it. However, he clearly knew the truth after the attack, at the very least. And he used it to turn all of you against his main rival, Boss Gui. Contrary to the accusations, I never worked for her. We do have a contract, but I am not her underling. In fact, I've been slowly pushing her to stop dealing with slavery. And it is official now, Boss Gui will stop any and all slave trade she's engaged in."
Cao Yun's words caused an uproar among the crowd. Pouring all of his spiritual senses in his voice, he was able to spread his voice across the entire audience. Moreover, his words sounded true, as though spoken by an ethereal spirit, touching everyone's mind and soul.
"Sir, I humbly accept your words. My father had trusted you, and I still believe in his judgment. After his death, I was blinded by grief and pain and I failed to clearly see who the true guilty was. Patriarch Liang Lisheng used this opportunity to wrestle more power for himself...."
"You...!"
Several tribesmen from the Sun Scorpion Clan suddenly erupted. They couldn't let their own patriarch be attacked while he couldn't defend himself. At that moment, Cao Yun released his hold on him a little, just enough so he could indeed speak and move around.
"Miss Sha Chai Gan, do not let his words sway you! This abomination is using some mind trick to deceive you! Don't you see the truth?! He is working with Boss Gui and he wants to annihilate use all!"
The crowd was extremely confused. But most demons realized that there was more to the story than what they were seeing or hearing. Besides, their leaders had clearly decided not to take part in the conflict. Thus, it was obvious that the future of their tribes would be decided by Sha Chai Gan and Liang Lisheng. But Cao Yun would also play a large part. Of course, not many were pleased by the idea of a stranger interfering with their tribes. Still, they would wait and see, for the time being.
"But Weiji Nian has been exposed as the true culprit, Patriarch!"
"Lies! Do we have any proof that this Mo Yun didn't kill her himself?! He could have planted the poison in her residence to put the blame on City Lord Sihe by association!"
As it turned out, Patriarch Liang Lisheng was perfectly right. But it didn't change anything at all. The truth was that Weiji Nian had indeed ordered the attack on the tribes.
"Wake up! He's using some technique to manipulate you all! Soon, he's going to try and kill me. But after me, what do you think will happen to you?!"
Desperation and fright in Patriarch Liang Lisheng's voice were affecting the crowd. Some leaders were already wary of Cao Yun. And their fear was indeed that he was going to kill the Sun Scorpion Clan's leader and then he would kill them off one by one. Maybe Sha Chai Gan had already planned it with him. But it didn't seem like something she would do. If the situation was reversed, they would believe straight away that Patriarch Liang Lisheng was setting them up. But thanks to her father, but also to her own actions, the tribesmen had more faith in Sha Chai Gan than in the entire Sun Scorpion Clan. After all, there were nasty rumors on them and the use of poison.
"Patriarch, I won't let a stranger murder one of our own. However, you should step down for now, until we've been able to examine everything thoroughly."
Sha Chai Gan knew that letting a stranger kill the man who was currently leading all the tribes was a mistake. Any justice and punishment had to be dealt with by the tribes themselves, not by Cao Yun.
"Sir Mo, please, let our tribes handle our own affairs."
"Although I was falsely accused by this wretched creature, your tribes have suffered more from his actions than I have. Thus, I will leave the matter of his punishment in your hands, Chieftain Sha Chai Gan."
Slowly, Cao Yun descended from the sky toward the ground. Soon, he was between Sha Chai Gan and Liang Lisheng. With his senses, he could clearly see orders being given among the crowd. The Sun Scorpion Clan was preparing themselves for something. The Sisters were also ready as they could see everything too.
Cao Yun put himself close enough to Liang Lisheng, knowing what he had in mind.
In the patriarch's mind, everything was over. If he let Sha Chai Gan arrest him, he would not come out alive. And apparently, everyone had either sided with her or was waiting to see what would happen. But many sordid secrets of his could be exposed if he let her investigate him. This wouldn't be the best outcome, but he had to take over by force. Thankfully, he had readied himself for quite some time now. In an instant, he could turn it around and swarm Cao Yun and Sha Chai Gan. Many tribesmen would die, but at least, he would keep his influence. Besides, as long as he spared enough women, he could repopulate quickly.
All of a sudden, a black powder flew from Patriarch Liang Lisheng's spatial ring. All of it was directed at Cao Yun. Since his enemy was a powerful Accomplished Demon, the Sun Scorpion Clan's Patriarch did not hesitate to use everything he had just on him. This was indeed the strongest poison he had on him. Cao Yun recognized it easily thanks to Tree of Death's book. Within that black powder was a dangerous mixture of Purple Leafed Belladonna, Salt of the White Turtle, Gray Viper Fangs Paste and other deadly poisons. In fact, Cao Yun even saw something similar to the Black Death Prison that had caused Chief Elder Suxian's demise. But this wasn't the full recipe, just an imitation.
Anyway, this black powder was indeed powerful enough to heavily injure an early Accomplished Demon. Even a middle Accomplished Demon would have been afraid of such poison. Of course, poisoning them would be difficult, but if the attempt was successful, one could really manage to kill an Accomplished Demon. This time though, Cao Yun had made sure that the black powder reached him. He could have flown away, he could have stopped the cloud of black powder. He could have done many things to prevent this attack, but he did not. Instead, he prepared himself to receive it.
When the powder got to him, he took out several pills from his spatial ring and discreetly ate them. At the same time, he was able to absorb most of the black powder into his spatial ring, replacing it with another black powder, that was just some flame powder for his alchemy. No one apart from the Accomplished Demon Sister saw through it. But knowing the effects of the poison, Cao Yun was able to imitate the symptoms. The pills he had gulped down helped with it as well.
All of a sudden, he stumbled and fell to the ground with blood and foam at his mouth.