Patriarch Liang Lisheng couldn't let go of the opportunity. Cao Yun, a powerful 4th-grade Accomplished Demon was kneeling on the ground, coughing blood. There was even blood coming out of his eyes and nose too. If he had been more attentive, he would have realized that this didn't make sense. Cao Yun's blood was incredibly thick and heavy even for an Accomplished Demon, but what was flowing on his face was akin to a mortal's blood. Obviously, he wasn't going to waste his true Golden Blood. The young man simply wanted to make it look like the poison was effective and apparently this tactic was effective in order to reach his goal.
From his spatial ring, Patriarch Liang Lisheng took out a large scythe with a serrated blade. There was also a handle in the middle of the scythe. Such a weapon was meant to either cut through someone or inflict gaping wounds to sturdier opponents so that they would slowly lose all their blood. Everyone around seemed to be paralyzed. Even Sha chai Gan wasn't doing a thing and neither were the Sisters. All of them had heard Cao Yun's voice in their minds telling them to simply watch and wait for the moment of truth.
Before Patriarch Liang Lisheng could attack Cao Yun though, three feathers fell from the sky. Hongyu had three long tails made of fiery feathers. Each one of those tails had lost a single feather. And all three of them had fallen around Cao Yun. Suddenly, the young man was engulfed in a pillar of flames. The abrupt heat made Patriarch Liang Lisheng jump backward. Hongyu was a 6-core demonic beast. As such, she was on the level of a late Golden Blood Child, in theory. In reality, her Evil Core and Wrath Core made her more powerful than that and she could keep her own against an early Accomplished Demon.
That pillar of flame seemed extremely dangerous. But within, Cao Yun was completely unaffected. In fact, he was even feeling comfortable. After all, the properties of the Drop of Wrath were coursing through those flames. Besides, Cao Yun's Rune of Fire was also excited and elated by those flames. On the other hand, if Patriarch Liang Lisheng or anyone else tried to enter those flames, they would be burned to cinders in a short amount of time. And they were painfully aware of that. Unfortunately, individually, they could do nothing against Hongyu who was way too high in the sky. Besides, she was so fast that she could evade most attacks.
Patriarch Liang Lisheng became nervous. In the flames he could see that Cao Yun's condition was improving as he could only see his silhouette slowly standing up. He had used his strongest poison. If Cao Yun survived this, his death was absolutely certain. For an instant, he hesitated whether he should try to take down the array formation first, or attack Cao Yun with all of his forces, or maybe Hongyu and then Cao Yun. Unlike Cao Yun, his mind cultivation was very weak. Besides, demons were much more sensitive to their emotions. It had positive aspects as their art was more vibrant. But in this situation, it was a clear negative.
In his state of panic, Patriarch Liang Lisheng tried to push all the tribes to attack with him.
"We have to kill this brat! If we let him live, he'll destroy us all!"
The other leaders were looking at Patriarch Liang Lisheng with suspicion and even derision in their eyes. At that moment, it dawned on him that he had literally used a terrible poison in front of everyone else. In his Sun Scorpion Clan, it was perfectly accepted. But, despite the rumors, no one else had actually seen any member of the Sun Scorpion Clan use poison to this extent. Every time they did use poison in public, it was weak enough that they could claim that it was alchemy, medicine or something else.
The old man wanted to beat himself up. How could he have been so stupid?! Fear had completely overtaken him. Truth be told, Cao Yun had prepared for this encounter and he did intend to force the old man's hand. However, it had worked better than he could have imagined. Maybe because he had been leading the tribes for so long, Patriarch Liang Lisheng had thought of them as his own Sun Scorpion Clan. He had forgotten what his real position was among them.
"Listen to me! This brat is a danger for us all! I had no choice! For now, just focus on killing him, we can talk about anything else afterward, but we can't let him live! Listen to me!"
Many leaders discreetly looked at Sha Chai Gan. Seeing that she was doing nothing, they followed suit. Others were more hesitant, but they didn't want to be the first one to act. Besides, from what they had heard, Cao Yun's grudge was with Patriarch Liang Lisheng and City Lord Sihe. Many either believed his words about Weiji Nian and the Bloodfire Vermilion Haze or were not too fond of Patriarch Liang Lisheng as a leader. Of course, allowing an outsider to kill the leader of a tribe was a bit of a problem though.
"You...!"
Seeing that he would get no support, Patriarch Liang Lisheng attacked alone. He brandished his scythe. The weapon turned into bones covered with some exoskeleton around them. When he struck the pillar of flames, the stinger of a scorpion appeared and stabbed through the pillar. However, it was immediately destroyed by the heat and the scythe itself barely penetrated the pillar. Before his weapon was melted, Patriarch Liang Lisheng took it back. But it was too late, a significant part of the weapon had indeed been melted.
"Help me!"
Ignoring the rest of the tribes, Patriarch Liang Lisheng asked his own Sun Scorpion Clan for help. Although their knowledge of battle formations was superficial, they were able to use a handful of them. Thus, they all attacked as one man. A large pincer appeared and tried to cut through the pillar as well while the patriarch's scythe was acting as the medium. But this time, the blade was completely burned. The metal melted and Patriarch Liang Lisheng was even forced to let go of the weapon as his very hands were burning.
With a scream, he let go of his scythe that was in a terrible condition. This weapon was only a 5-star Human weapon according to the Hongchen Kingdom's classification.
Despite this loss, everyone saw that the pillar had weakened. The pincer had been able to crush it a little but it had recovered after the attack had failed. With enough time, they could break through. Time wasn't something Patriarch Liang Lisheng had in abundance. So he needed more men. After all, his Sun Scorpion Clan was rather small compared to all the other tribes.
At that time, Cao Yun's shadow was fully standing within the pillar. If he waited any longer, the Accomplished Demon would recover and kill him without any hesitation. Considering that no one was helping him now, no one would help him then. As such, fear seized Patriarch Liang Lisheng's heart. Losing all rationality, he decided to force the leaders to obey him, no matter what.
"Fools! Either you fight by my side or you die!"
As he was speaking these words, Patriarch Liang Lisheng used the mantra taught to him by City Lord Sihe in person. This could activate the seals within the nomads. Key figures of each tribe had received those seals without even realizing it. They could inflict untold agony or even kill. Thus, he used them to compel the tribes to fight for him.
Unfortunately though, nothing happened. No matter how much he was focusing on the mantra, nothing was going on. In fact, the tribesmen were looking at him as though he were a madman.
"I told you to fight! Why isn't it working?! Why aren't you in pain?! Damn it all! If you refuse, just die!"
Suddenly, he changed his tactic and chanted the mantra out loud. At that moment, he was trying to activate the death seals in several tribesmen. Although not everyone was knowledgeable in seals, they knew enough about the Slavery Brand, which they called Curse of Blood and Sorrow, to recognize the mantra. After all, it was also the work of City Lord Sihe.
Many tribesmen were afraid, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Why isn't it working?! What's going on?!"
"I am!"
Cao Yun's voice resounded throughout the array formation. He had once again poured his soul in his voice. Even the Accomplished Demon Sister felt an instinctive fear in her very bones. His voice was vibrating within the flesh of every demon around him. There was also a powerful killing intent mixed with it. Although it was targeting Patriarch Liang Lisheng, everyone else could feel it and they were frozen.
"You... Impossible..."
"Old man, I already freed hundreds if not thousands of slaves from this Sihe's seals. Why did you think I couldn't unravel the sloppy seals he had inflicted upon the tribes?"
This time, everyone believed Cao Yun's words. Patriarch Liang Lisheng's face was proof enough.
In the pillar of flames, the shadow of Cao Yun rose in the air. Although no one could see his actual figure, they could see two blazing eyes, full of hatred and rage. It was as though they were always looking at them. Each one of the tribesmen felt as though Cao Yun was looking deep into their souls.
Suddenly, his spear stabbed through the pillar of flames. Patriarch Liang Lisheng had no time to evade. His hips were struck. In a single attack, Cao Yun had cut off both of his legs. Then, his Black Heart Flame burned the two bleeding limbs.
On the other hand, Patriarch Liang Lisheng's torso fell on the ground. Using his cultivation, the old man was controlling the flow of his blood so that he wouldn't bleed to death. Even without legs, he could survive what was lethal for a mere mortal. However, unlike Cao Yun, he had no hope of ever growing his legs back. In fact, many Accomplished Demon couldn't regenerate as much as Cao Yun.
Obviously, the vicious attack sent shivers down everyone's spine. But after Patriarch Liang Lisheng was struck down, the pressure on everyone disappeared. Cao Yun wasn't threatening anyone else anymore. The only reason why Cao Yun had spared the Patriarch's life was because of his plan. As an outsider, it would be a mistake to kill the current leader of the tribes. Moreover, he knew that his death would come quickly. After all, he had already revealed his hand. It had been much easier than he had thought. Clearly, this old man was a terrible leader.
"As you've seen yourself, Liang Lisheng colluded with City Lord Sihe. He had placed seals in many of you so he could compel you to act for him. Although I do desire to kill him myself, it is not my place to judge him. Chieftain Sha Chai Gan, I will leave him to your justice."
"Thank you, Sir Mo."
Sha Chai Gan walked forward. Soon, she reached the bloodied torso of Patriarch Liang Lisheng. He was doing everything he could to stay conscious. Despite being a 9th-grade Golden Blood Child, the sudden loss of blood, the shock and the pain were about to knock him unconscious. In fact, he was barely aware of what was going on around him.
"Liang Lisheng, you've colluded with an outsider to enslave us. The evidence is overwhelming. Will anyone come forward to defend this man?"
Some in the Sun Scorpion Clan were hesitating, but no one else seemed to care. In fact, there was fury in the other tribesmen's eyes. Even Patriarch Liang Lisheng's own clan was afraid to step forward for him. The few who were ready to speak up suddenly felt incredibly cold. Then, they heard Cao Yun's voice in their minds. And they completely froze. Their Patriarch was done for. But hopefully, they could save their clan. By using him as a scapegoat, they could manage to save their skin.
Cao Yun played on that. Besides, keeping a clan that was knowledgeable in poison was obviously a good idea for tribes that lived in the desert. As long as they stayed ambiguous on their use of poisons, the other tribes could tolerate it, to an extent. But Cao Yun was also personally interested in their knowledge. They might even work well with Boss Gui. Finally, he had no enmity against the Sun Scorpion Clan so he had no reason to want them dead. In fact, Cao Yun was trying to spare as many lives as he could.
On the other hand, Patriarch Liang Lisheng was not among those he cared about. Sha Chai Gan raised her sword.
"Liang Lisheng, although you are deserving of the Seven Punishments of the Weaver of Souls, I will make your end swift."
Her sword suddenly stabbed through Patriarch Liang Lisheng's heart without any hesitation. Then, she rotated the blade and the old man's heart exploded in his chest. With disbelief in his eyes, the old man whimpered for a while before dying in front of the entire tribes.
Just after his death, Cao Yun released the array formation. His presence was clearly awkward so he rose in the air. With few words, he left on Hongyu's back. He would only come back in a few days after Sha Chai Gan had reorganized the tribes. Besides, the Sisters who were already infiltrated among the tribes would also take part in this reorganization. Everything was going according to plan. Now, Cao Yun ruled the Sisters of the Abyss and the tribes. Soon, he would also rule the Xinian Confederation through Boss Gui.
With that much influence, he could indeed change some things among the Desolate Sepulcher. But he had realized that he couldn't alter this society as he saw fit, he could only nudge it in the right direction. Although he was uncertain on many subjects, he was very clear when it came to slavery. That had to stop!
Finally, after gaining so much influence and power, he could get his boat from Lord Wanghuo and go back to his own kingdom, his friends, his family.