When he came back, Cao Yun used his stealth so no one would detect his presence apart from one specific person. Instead of going to Sha Chai Gan, he went to the Sister of the Abyss who was leading the others infiltrated within the various tribes.
She looked rather young but there was no doubt that she was more than a thousand year old. After all, she was a middle Accomplished Demon. With her vitality, Cao Yun could see her reaching the 7th-grade or maybe even the 8th-grade Accomplished Demon with enough resources and efforts. However, the 9th-grade Accomplished Demon stage seemed almost impossible. As there were few 9th-grade Spirit Warriors among humans, 9th-grade Accomplished Demons were few as well among demons. In fact, they appeared to be even fewer. After all, there were many more demons and as far as Cao Yun knew, only the Empyrean Asura had reached this realm. Even Lord Wanghuo was merely an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon.
To be fair, this was much more difficult for demons. A Soul Embryo was less powerful but much more stable than Turbid Demons. As an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon, one had to merge all seven Turbid Demons into a single entity, the true form of the Demon Soul. But obviously, each Turbid Demon was fighting against it but also trying to take over all the other Turbid Demons to rule alone. A failure at this step would mean total annihilation of one's soul. For humans, only the first step into the Spirit Warrior realm was really dangerous. As long as one didn't try to rush things, the Embryo Realm was safe. But if one was impatient, it could also turn out to be a disaster. Demons were always walking a fine line. And Cao Yun understood that very well. They could lose themselves while cultivating their Turbid Demons.
For a long time now, Cao Yun had been uncertain and indecisive. When he was younger, his lack of decision had always tormented him. But now, he was second-guessing his decisions and the morality behind them. Honestly, he didn't like this kind of responsibility.
The Sister bowed before him. She was Senior Mother Fen Caiji. Like most of the Accomplished Demons among the Sisters of the Abyss, she had seals planted in her soul by Cao Yun. Although he wasn't treating them like slaves, it didn't feel right at all. They were his permanent prisoners. With a single thought, he could obliterate her completely. Although he wasn't able to read her thoughts, he could read all the emotions she was trying to hide, right on her face. Maybe because of the threat, Senior Mother Fen Caiji didn't hide her emotions very well. Or maybe they were just too strong even for her, which meant a lot.
Before Cao Yun, she was terrified. And she was also appalled.
"Master, we followed your orders and supported Chieftain Sha Chai Gan. Soon, she'll have authority over all the tribes. Besides, we fanned the flames of the rage against City Lord Sihe. Many among the tribes would be ready to give their lives just to bring him down."
"Your name is Fen Caiji, right?"
"Yes, Master."
Obviously, Cao Yun knew it and he was absolutely certain of his memory. But he was trying to connect with her. Deep down, he felt guilty. In fact, he was cultivating this guilt and this shame. He had no idea who this Fen Caiji had been before his encounter with her. Of course, she had known about the sacrifices committed by High Mother Qin Xue, like all the other Senior Mothers. Still, Cao Yun didn't know what kind of woman she had been. Maybe she had been opposed to those without daring to speak up against a woman who would have killed her right away. Or maybe she had fully supported those. From what he had read, it was impossible to know for sure unless he invaded her mind, which he wouldn't do. After all, any Soul Memory Search could leave the victim broken, or even dead.
"Tell me honestly what you think of my actions."
"Master...?"
Fen Caiji's first thoughts were that this was a trap. As she was about to use empty words and stroke her master's ego and flatter him, she saw a flicker in his eyes. Fen Caiji stopped herself before a single syllable left her lips. The two of them were perfectly isolated and not even a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon could have easily heard them. Thus, she decided to speak her mind. If Cao Yun wanted to punish her, or even kill her for that, she could live with it.
"You're too rash! Yes, you've put Sha Chai Gan as the leader of all the tribes and fanned their hatred toward City Lord Sihe. But their rage won't stop there and even Sha Chai Gan won't be able to control them all. Soon after City Lord Sihe falls, the tribes will turn against the rest of the Nalupu Kingdom and even among themselves. There will be a bloody war!
"And you think you can simply end slavery by intimidating everyone?! How long do you think it will last?! You're just trying to make yourself feel good in my opinion. No one, not even the Weaver of Souls could end this practice. Yes, he had forbidden it completely before his physical death and yet it came back. It will come back again, do not doubt it. At the very best, you've simply postponed its return. But you can't change an entire society in such a manner. Unless you stay and replace Lord Wanghuo, your efforts will only be temporary.
"Boss Gui obeys you right now. But when the leash loosens, she'll keep serving her own interests. Maybe you count on us to make sure that things don't revert back, but they will, to some extent at the very least. You won't be able to change everything and everyone. And if you think otherwise, you're ignorant or stupid! You will shed a lot of blood, a lot of innocent blood, even the blood of those you claim you want to defend, for a mediocre result."
Contrary to her expectations, Fen Caiji saw no anger in Cao Yun's eyes. In fact, she saw that he was intently listening to her words. Finally, she stopped and realized that her words had been less harsh than she had intended. The flicker in her master's eyes had held her back a little.
"You might be right... Honestly, I'm not sure of my actions myself. This society is not mine and I don't know how it will react. But you're mistaken on one point at least. Slavery increased and became unbridled because of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. It's obvious that ending the demand will end the supply. Boss Gui won't see any benefit in it so she won't go back to those ways. In fact, she might see more benefits in mercenaries rather than slaves. Changing only the Desolate Sepulcher won't work, but maybe someone could try and change the entire Piaolu planet as a whole. After all, we're all connected. Even our ancestors are the same as demons and humans mixed with one another.
"But my fears are that you are right on the bloodbath. This is what I'm trying to prevent. Although this isn't my country, I don't want to be responsible for so many deaths. You might no believe me, but I'm really trying to prevent it. And I do think that things would have been worse with City Lord Sihe's ways. Honestly, I don't know whether I'm doing good or bad. But at some point, I had to act. Besides, I do want to leave this place as soon as I can, but it doesn't mean that I want its people to suffer without any reason.
"If you also care about those people, Senior Mother Fen Caiji, help me out. Your mission is try and smooth things over among the tribes. I do not care whether Sha Chai Gan stays their leader very long. My priority is to kill City Lord Sihe and to avoid blood to be shed all over the Desolate Sepulcher. Any loss we can prevent is a good thing, but we can't compromise our objectives either."
Fen Caiji hesitated a little, but she ended up responding. In her master's eyes, she could see his sincerity. To be honest, he could have easily faked it. But as it turned out, he was really sincere. Besides, this Fen Caiji was completely under his control as he could kill her at any moment. Thus, he had no reason to hide anything from her. Her seals would kill her if she tried to betray him and would erase her memories if someone tried to forcibly read them.
"Then, if you really do not care about ruling this place, I have a proposal..."
"I hear you."
-
Cao Yun and Fen Caiji talked for a couple hours. Finally, he left. Cao Yun went to Sha Chai Gan. The first thing he did was to give her the treatment for General Sha Lang Hu. Then, he gave her very specific instructions. Among them, the most important was to listen to Senior Mother Fen Caiji. Sha Chai Gan would rule the tribe coalition for a very short time as a matter of fact. But she would remain the chieftain of the Sand Wolves Tribe. And it was what really mattered to her. Besides, they would not be forced to wage the brutal war she was seeing in their future. As such, she was quite happy. Instead of fanning the rage against City Lord Sihe, they tried to erase the damage done by the Sun Scorpion Clan.
While they were reorganizing the tribes, many were tried and sentenced to death among the Sun Scorpion Clan, but also among other tribes as well. Sha Chai Gan tried to avoid those deaths, but they had to calm the anger of the tribesmen.
While that was going on, Cao Yun was meditating away from the tribes. Hongyu was chasing and feeding her forming seventh core. With a seventh core, she would be on Cao Yun's level in theory. Of course, he would remain much stronger than her. But, to be fair, he might not win a fight against her as she could fly away faster than he could, and she could keep this speed for much longer as well. After all, she was a fenghuang while he was a human.
Cao Yun was nourishing his silver Soul Embryo while also cultivating his Corpse Dog. Obviously, he was very careful as he didn't want his fears to affect his weak Soul Embryo. With the experience he had accumulated, tempering his Corpse Dog wasn't hard at all. He even used his other Turbid Demons to help it along. His shame and his fear of corruption were helping a lot. Thinking about the consequences of both action and inaction was also a sound strategy as he could imagine many terrible scenarios. Sadly, imagination was a good fuel for fear. Fear could indeed completely submerge someone and create so many doubts one could not act at all. Or to the contrary, it could push someone to take stupid decisions out of fear, without thinking them. Not thinking or overthinking were both extremes that were bad.
Like many things, balance was the key. But finding the right balance was also difficult. Besides, it was always different. The balance itself would change over time and would be completely distinct between two situations.
More and more, Cao Yun was abandoning this Desolate Sepulcher to think about his birthplace and his family. As much as he had cared for some of the demons, and as much as he sincerely want to help this land, in the end, it wasn't his place. Soon, he would leave, probably never to return again. He would do what he thought was right. But he would have to let the inhabitants themselves take their fates in hands. Slowly, he was working toward it and Fen Caiji's plan had been good. He couldn't do everything as she had told him. And he wasn't even sure whether it would be possible. But some ideas had been worth a shot. Cao Yun was not vain to the point he thought all his plans were perfect, or even good.
After hearing better ideas, he changed his mind on several points. What Cao Yun had learned with all his introspection was that everything was always changing, even within people. What felt right one day could be wrong the next. Deep down, he had found a stable foundation. So he could change his mind without affecting his vision of himself at all. Besides, he had already changed a lot, and yet he still felt like the child who had failed to protect his little sister. But Cao Yun knew that this was also an illusion. Few people could actually see themselves change. Just like a man who would suddenly realize that he was an old man after he got hurt doing something banal.
One day, someone could wake up and realize they had become what they had always hated. And to avoid that, it was necessary to cultivate one's shame, among other things.
As all that was swirling in his head, Cao Yun abandoned many doubts he had. Or rather, he finally accepted that they would always be with him. And strangely enough, it quieted them all. Of course, he would always have doubts, but nothing was ever certain and nothing would ever be. At some point, one had to push those doubts aside to act. The most important thing though was to be flexible enough to adapt as the consequences of those actions unraveled. One could judge a tree by its fruits. Thus, one had to be able to change how the tree was grown depending on the taste of those fruits.
The more Cao Yun was meditating, the more he found himself detached from the mundane world. But he wasn't completely detached because he still cared about many things. That being said, he had absolutely no interest in having any political role. Thankfully, he had other people in mind who could do it in his stead. Indeed, he would have to kill Emperor Weide, so someone would need to rule the Hongchen Kingdom in order to avoid its destruction. And Cao Yun already had names in mind. Hopefully, they were still alive and well.
Once he was done, the young man could tell that his Soul Embryo had grown stronger. To fully develop one's Soul Embryo could take from anywhere between a year to ten year, for an average cultivator. Patience was key!
Anyway, Cao Yun decided to let the events he had triggered unfold. For the time being, he would visit a place where he hoped to get more answers.