Since the moment he had finally left the Blood Abyss, around nine to ten months had passed by. And by the time Cao Yun had reached his destination, an entire year had gone by. In his Huang Ting, the Yellow Court, he could feel that his silver Soul Embryo was slowly growing. With his current mind cultivation, it really wasn't difficult to divert a part of his focus on his Silver Embryo. At any single moment, he was sending his intent and some mixture of Fire Qi and Water Qi toward this small embryo.
With this intent, he also mixed the intent of the Drop of Wrath. Since the Drop of Wrath itself had been marked with Cao Yun's own Turbid Demons, it was growing stronger and stronger and was quite literally an extension of his own soul at that point. Thus, it was also useful to nourish the Soul Embryo. From everything he could read and observe, his Soul Embryo was nearly perfect. Perfection was impossible of course, so he clearly had obtained the best result anyone could reasonably hope for.
While he was cultivating his Soul Embryo, he was also half-way done with his Corpse Dog. Soon he would even be a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon, working on his Fallen Arrow. But this time, he had no intention of rushing through the steps. Even if he got a boat and a navigator from Lord Wanghuo right now, he would still need several months to get back to the Hongchen Kingdom. Considering his current strength and all the knowledge of alchemy and array formations he had, he knew he could rival almost any opponent. Besides, he had no plans of facing Emperor Weide alone. Indeed, he didn't intend to confront an entire kingdom alone. Thankfully, his friends and supports were all still alive and well.
As he was flying on Hongyu's back, they reached the place he wanted to go back to, the Desolate Pillar. Before Cao Yun was a monstrous tempest. It was quite literally a wall of pure chaos. This giant storm was in the middle of the Desolate Dune Desert. Some even thought that this was the reason why this desert existed in the first place. During the Great War, the Weaver of Souls had fought and died here. From the violence of the battle, this part of the main continent was ripped away. The once luxurious land turned into sand. And the sea itself was so full of the bloods of the gods that it became the Divine Blood Ocean. Many demonic beasts absorbed the blood and became Immortal Beasts, making any trip on the ocean dangerous.
Even nowadays, the Divine Blood Ocean was known to be ruthless. Not only was the ocean itself dangerous with extraordinary tempests and violent waters, but the demonic beasts were also much more dangerous than on land. After all, the most powerful demonic beasts in the Divine Blood Ocean could survive the violence of this harsh ocean every day, while fighting other demonic beasts. And there was no human or demon to cull those. As such, the Divine Blood Ocean had probably the most dangerous demonic beasts on the surface of the planet.
Cao Yun remembered this storm perfectly well. It was the place where he had been transported to when the Demon King had attacked the capital of the Hongchen Kingdom. With all of his current knowledge, it made even more sense to the young man. Indeed, space was rather strange and unstable all over the Piaolu planet. But around this storm, space was almost on the verge of breaking apart. As it was the most fragile spot, it was also were he had been able to emerge from. Luckily, he had not emerged too deep into the storm and had been able to leave rather easily. Indeed, as space was so distorted, one could walk for centuries in circle without even realizing it.
Obviously, an array formation master had ways to circumvent that problem. And Cao Yun had a clear plan in mind, because he did want to go back in. There were questions that needed answers. Maybe he wouldn't find them there, but he also might. And he needed those answers before leaving for his birthplace. Many things appeared strange to the young man now that he knew more. He had knowledge from both the demons and the humans. He had literally saw images from the Weaver of Souls. All images weren't clear, but some piqued his interest. In particular, he was curious about how the asura had been able to rule over the Piaolu planet for so long.
Originally, Cao Yun had not questioned it too much. In fact, many humans had assumed that Demon God Da Mo was some kind of title passed down from generation to generation. The first Demon God Da Mo had conquered the Piaolu planet. And either he had died or had gone away for his successor to take over, just like Emperor Nuwa had left the planet after becoming an Immortal. For those historians, the demons' claims that Demon God Da Mo had really lived for tens of thousands of years were preposterous. Indeed, he had never reached the stage of Immortal Demon. At the very best, he had been a 9th-grade Reborn Demon. But now, Cao Yun was certain that it had been the original Demon God Da Mo all along. Moreover, the Weaver of Souls had lived as long as he had.
Around the storm, Cao Yun spent several days placing array formation flags. The storm was so large that it did take almost two weeks to go all around it even without taking any pause, without sleeping, and with Hongyu's speed. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had to place the flags himself. No matter how smart Hongyu was, she couldn't set up an array formation. Besides, he had to adapt it depending on the environment. This was really an array formation per se. The flags would work like cardinal points for his compass while inside the storm. Unfortunately, Cao Yun would need to understand the Dao of Space if he wanted to navigate this storm by himself. So he had thought about this stratagem. Instead of using his senses, he would trust those flags.
Once he was done, Cao Yun sent Hongyu away. This time, he had made sure to find a perfect spot for her while he was away. There was no dangerous demonic beast and she could live her life while he was exploring. In a few months, his plans should come to fruition ad he would need to visit Lord Wanghuo. High Mother Lisha was already planning for it all. After that, he would probably never come back in this land. Thus, he had to explore right now.
Mobilizing his martial arts, 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' and 'Three Storms', Cao Yun took out his 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar'. In fact, he even circulated his Spear Intent. All around him, a small whirlwind appeared. It was also encompassing his spear. Here and there, one could see flashes of azure as well as a few scales. Calmly, Cao Yun walked forward, spear first. He pierced through the storm wall and entered into the Desolate Pillar.
Just like the first time, the storm was extremely intense. But Cao Yun was also much stronger. Moreover, he had the intent of the Weaver of Souls with him. The burning sand caught in the storm couldn't injure him at all. In fact, it wasn't worse than mere rain falling on him. However, he did focus on his Spear Intent every single step of the way. Although it wasn't entirely necessary, it was also a form of training. In a sense, this Desolate Pillar was serving the same role as the Howling Crane Gorges from the Wubei Sect. Of course, it was much more violent.
As he was walking forward, Cao Yun always kept an eye on his compass. From time to time, he put it back in his spatial ring so it wouldn't be swept away as he had to focus on his stance not to be blown away himself. And as time was passing by, he could see how the flags outside were moving around. Of course, the flags weren't really moving, space around Cao Yun was distorted. And these were these distortions that were causing this permanent storm.
At some point, Cao Yun even felt it himself. While he was walking slowly, he felt as though something was trying to tear him in half. Quickly, he moved forward and this force stopped. If he had been an instant too late, he would have literally been cut into two pieces. Of that, he was absolutely certain. Even a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon would have suffered under such a force. Although he couldn't perceive the Dao, he knew that this was due to space. Indeed, he had read a bit about the Dao of Space. This was one of the major Daos, and also one of the most complex, along with the Dao of Time and a few more esoteric Daos, like the Dao of Death as a matter of fact. Each concept could be considered its own Dao, but many were not really useful and were just derivation of more important Daos.
If Cao Yun had been able to study the Dao, this place would have been perfect, both to understand the Dao of Space but also the Dao of Wind. Anyway, he could still deepen his understanding of his martial arts thanks to this powerful wind. It was a pity that this storm had no thunder nor hail or he could have developed his 'Three Storms' even more.
Finally, Cao Yun reached the center of the Desolate Pillar. The wind had become so powerful and so violent that he was forced to bend forward and to use his spear to cut through the storm. His Spear Intent had literally turned into a dragon made out of wind and scales surrounding both his spear and his body. From afar, if one had been able to see through this storm, they would have thought that Cao Yun was in fact a demonic beast of some draconic heritage.
The young man himself didn't know how long he had walked in the storm. He could only estimate time through his own cultivation. Although he had felt as though months had passed, his cultivation had not advanced at all. From that, he could imagine that only a handful of days, or maybe mere hours, had passed. But his perception of time had been completely thrown off. Once again, it might have been caused by the strange distortions of time. From what he had read in the documents left by Cleansed Asura, time and space were intertwined in some way. Although he didn't understand it at all, Cao Yun trusted his master's words. After all, he knew that time could flow differently in different realms.
To be honest, Cao Yun himself wasn't sure what he would find in the Desolate Pillar.
Right in front of him was the corpse of the Weaver of Souls. He recognized him right away. In the very center of the storm, his corpse was absolutely spared from the terrible winds. In fact, it was the eye of the storm. No wind was hitting this corpse. But it didn't look like a corpse at all.
Indeed, the Weaver of Souls, Fangzhi Hunpo, was simply standing there. Apart from his closed eyes and the total absence of movement, he seemed perfectly alive. According to what he knew, the Fangzhi Hunpo had died somewhere between twenty to twenty-five thousand years ago. The fact that his body was completely intact was simply astounding. Maybe it was the storm and the distortion of space that had helped. Even a 9th-grade Reborn Demon's body wouldn't have stayed in such a state for so long. Even though a cultivator's body didn't rot as fast as the corpse of anyone else, it still ended up rotting. From the legends, only an Immortal Body could stay intact for eons.
Fangzhi Hunpo looked different from what Cao Yun had seen though. He was very old and seemed incredibly weak. Clearly, he had fought for so long that he had spent all of his strength. There were wrinkles all over his face, but there was also a faint smile. What was most shocking was his paleness. Indeed, Cao Yun could tell that there was not a single drop of blood left in his corpse. Either he had consumed all of it during the fight or he had lost all of it. His blood should have been even heavier and richer than Cao Yun's.
Apart from this corpse, there was nothing else, no weapon, no spatial ring, nothing. Apparently, Cao Yun had come here in vain. Still, he had to try to get any kind of answer he could. Maybe, he could even take the corpse away. he thought about bringing it to the Sisters of the Abyss. This would obviously improve their influence over the Desolate Sepulcher. Religious fervor could be a powerful tool.
As he was analyzing the corpse with his senses, Cao Yun walked closer and closer until he was also in the eye of storm. All of a sudden, a heavy burden was taken off his shoulder. Even he had not realized what an effort it had been, and how exhausted he was. Suddenly, he felt a tremendous fatigue wash over his entire body. He felt as sleepy as he had ever been. No matter how much he was fighting this sleep, he couldn't do a thing.
His spear stabbed into the sand as he was trying to stay up and standing. But he simply crouched over his 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' as though it was a mere cane. His vision was blurry as his eyelids were closing themselves on their own. Even with all of his will, he couldn't will them open. There was nothing to do. He was just sleepy. His entire body was sleepy. His very soul was sleepy. And then, he was asleep.
Cao Yun's body fell to the ground, completely immobile. Just like the Weaver of Souls' corpse, he wasn't breathing anymore. There was no apparent movement. But there was a faint smile on his face and he looked peaceful. Anyone else seeing him would have thought that Cao Yun was simply dead. But he wasn't. He was sleeping.
Even his sea of consciousness seemed asleep. But within it, the Drop of Wrath was burning and raging. A bloody light spread throughout Cao Yun's soul. Soon, it encompassed all of his sea of consciousness. Finally, this light made Cao Yun open his eyes. However, he realized that those weren't his eyes. At least, those weren't his physical eyes. He immediately realized that he was in some kind of dream. And all around him was a strange place he had never seen before. In the distance he could see a large tree floating in the vacuum of space.