Now that he had gotten the hang of it, manipulating his Fire and Water Qi had become natural to Cao Yun. In fact, he had even trained his ability to nurture his Soul Embryo to be as natural as breathing. With each breath, he was sending more nutrients to the small silver soul in his stomach. Of course, being conscious of the process, focusing on the process even was paramount to developing a close relationship with his Soul Embryo. But it would slowly develop even without any intervention from Cao Yun. Observing without interfering would help him during the next stage of its evolution.
For the average cultivator, fully nurturing their Soul Embryo could take around a decade. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to wait that long. After all, he had already developed his mind and soul cultivation. Thanks to this experience, he was hoping things would go faster, at least after this initial stage. But knowing that he couldn't really force the process, Cao Yun counted on his blood cultivation to increase his strength. Currently, he was almost certain he could not contend with Emperor Weide directly. But by the time he would reach the Hongchen Kingdom, he intended to close the gap even more. In less than a decade, he had gone from being powerless before the late Spirit Warrior to being able to compete with him. There was no reason why he shouldn't be able to even rival his power. Besides, he knew he would get support.
The time to leave the Monastery of Bliss and Repose to meet with Lord Wanghuo was drawing near. It pushed Cao Yun to cultivate even more. At the moment, he was focusing on the Fallen Arrow and things were going very well.
Fallen Arrow was the counterpart of Corpse Dog, in the sense that Corpse Dog was the corrupted version of the Po of Yin while Fallen Arrow was the corrupted Po of Yang. Corpse Dog was Water while Fallen Arrow was Fire. In its healthy version, Po of Yin was about wisdom while Po of Yang was about order. As such, Fallen Arrow dealt with aimlessness, the sensation that nothing had any sense because everything was already decided, or that everything was following a certain order that could never be altered. For a cultivator who had to adhere to a strict routine, sometimes for several centuries, this sensation could be quite strong.
Indeed, sitting cross-legged in some cave for several decades at a time could create the feeling that it was pointless. Everything was pointless as one would simply keep on doing the same thing over and over again. After achieving their goal, cultivator often found another goal to achieve. This was an unending cycle. Even in death, it would not end, as one would be reincarnated. At some point, they were bound to reincarnate into another cultivator and begin anew. Every effort poured into their endeavor was going to be swiped away by the vastness of space and time.
Even becoming an Immortal wouldn't change anything. Immortals could live for half a hundred thousands years. But that wouldn't create meaning in their life. Like everyone else, they would feel fear at the prospect of dying. In fact, Cao Yun could imagine that the idea of dying would become quite unbearable and unacceptable to beings who named themselves Immortals. There was no point one wouldn't fear death, maybe. Maybe cultivation was useless. No matter how powerful or knowledgeable one would become, they would never achieve true immortality. After all, if that were the case, wouldn't there be true immortals in the world? Wouldn't Cao Yun have found them?
As he was focusing on Fallen Arrow, Cao Yun could feel Corpse Dog taking over. Indeed, the feeling that everything was pointless and futile was causing great dread in him. The two Turbid Demons were complementing each other.
Even if everything was futile, then what? Cao Yun wasn't about to end his life, as it would be as futile as living anyway. Only in life could he find some sense, not in death. And he would be reincarnated anyway. The only solution would be total and absolute annihilation, but he lacked the constitution for such an extremity. On the other hand, he quickly overcame this dread thanks to his curiosity and his passion for both martial arts and cultivation. Simply witnessing what the next stage of cultivation was filled him with excitement. Maybe it was pointless, but so what? Whether it was or not was unimportant. It was something he wanted to explore, and in itself it was a good enough reason to pursue this endeavor.
At some point in his life, his hopefully very long life, he might come to the realization that there was no point to existence itself. But even then, he would keep moving forward, following his Dao Heart. His will was strong enough to fore through this ocean of uncertainties. Maybe he was simply not thinking deep and hard enough on the matter. But somehow, Cao Yun felt that dwelling too long on such a question would create more harm than good. Maybe he was simply too young.
When he got the sensation that nothing had any meaning, he felt as though he was falling in an infinite abyss of nothingness. Thankfully, he had a very specific goal he could cling to. He was focusing on his sister. He had promised his parents that he would protect her and he was not going to forsake this promise, no matter what. If nothing had any meaning, it meant that his own sister's fate was meaningless, that her very life had no sense. But it had! At least, in Cao Yun's eyes, his sister's life was incredibly meaningful. And he used this to fight the sensation caused by Fallen Arrow.
That being said, he didn't completely reject the sensation either. He merely used this deep meaning to anchor himself. Feeling Fallen Arrow moving around in his psyche, Cao Yun had to admit that there was a lot of truth to it. He had been chasing for meaning for quite some time. Once his sister was safe, as he would make sure that she would be, then he wasn't sure that he would be able to hold such an important purpose anymore. The only thing he could replace it by was his will to explore the mysteries of both cultivation and the universe, the Dao itself. Would it fill him with the same kind of meaning? Would he feel once again that everything was meaningless? And even if it did fill him with meaning, how long would that last?
For hours, for days, for weeks, Cao Yun oscillated between hope and despair on those questions. It was as if there were several Cao Yuns fighting among his own mind. Some of them were convinced that their life had some kind of deep meaning, or even merely superficial meaning, while others were convinced that the entire world was doomed from the start, a stupid mechanism always moving forward and crushing everyone. Sentient beings were just parts of this mechanism with the sensation to be individuals which they were not. Very somber ideas went through Cao Yun's mind. Only the image of his family and his friends was able to anchor him.
Obviously, Cao Yun wouldn't find the answers to such questions. At least, he wouldn't find them in a matter of months or years. But cultivating Fallen Arrow wasn't about finding answers to whether there was meaning in life or not. Cultivating one's Turbid Demons was about the emotion itself, not reason. As Cao Yun was cultivating Fallen Arrow, he was also able to feel his Hun move around a little. It had been a long time since he had felt it that intensely, and it wasn't even very intense to be fair.
Unlike the Po which was related to earthly needs and emotions, Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul, was related to higher functions. Po was separated in seven parts while Hun was often considered to be three souls united together. The highest Hun was Tai Guang, the Great Light, then Shuang Ling, the Bright Spirit, and finally You Jing, the Dark Essence. You Jing and Shuang Ling were much closer to Earth than Tai Guang. As such, they were often considered those responsible for ghosts. On the other hand, Tai Guang was the part that would always travel back to the Heavenly Court to await another incarnation.
Each aspect of one's Po was driven by a desire, a longing. You Jing the Dark Essence longed for connection to one's family and friends. It longed for a desire of belonging. Shuang Ling the Bright Spirit longed for understanding the world around. It was probably the strongest part of Cao Yun's Hun. In fact, it was strong in many cultivators as it was what was driving most of them. Finally, Tai Guang the Great Light pushed people to want transcendence, something bigger and higher than the world itself. It was what pushed human beings to religion and philosophy. If a cultivator had a powerful Tai Guang, they would often become monks or scholars. To be fair, it wasn't that powerful within Cao Yun. His only real religious belief was reincarnation, but everyone in the Hongchen Kingdom believed in it. And Cao Yun had felt souls leaving one's corpse before disappearing. Such a phenomenon was quite mysterious and did evoke the idea that it was being sent to some other mystical place, maybe the Heavenly Court indeed.
One's Hun was often separated into Heaven, Earth and Man as to distinguish it from the ranks Earth, Human and Heaven. Indeed, the lowest Hun was You Jing the Dark Essence that was considered as Man as it related to the connection with other human beings. Then Shuang Ling the Bright Spirit was Earth as it related to the desire to understand the world. And finally Tai Guang the Great Light was Heaven.
As Fallen Arrow was demeaning life and its meaning, Cao Yun's Hun was stirred by it. It was maybe the first time since Cao Yun had worked on the Hun character that he really felt his Hun. In fact, he could almost feel the distinction between the three different parts. This sensation quickly passed though. However, it had some lasting effects both on Cao Yun's psyche and on his Soul Embryo. After all, his Soul Embryo was supposed to harbor his very soul, and even merge with it eventually.
After feeling that, Cao Yun wondered whether his blood cultivation was not about to improve his Qi cultivation. But trying to chase this sensation again was doomed to fail. It had appeared while Cao Yun wasn't even trying to produce it. If he tried too hard, it would never come again. It was a lesson he had learned from Chief Elder Baishen when it came to martial states. But it was true for any sensation. In order to promote a sensation, one had to free their mind of any expectation and tension. It could come back over time. The more one was anxious about it, the harder it would be to feel it again. Besides, the sensation wouldn't be as good the second time with such an attitude.
The young man could feel that he was almost halfway done with Fallen Arrow. After developing four Turbid Demons, he was getting quite good at it. Apart from the last stage that consisted in merging them together, he didn't harbor any doubt that he could advance his blood cultivation. He might even become a 7th or 8th-grade Accomplished Demon by the time he met Emperor Weide again. Hopefully, he would have advanced his Qi cultivation as well. At the very least, he was hoping for his Soul Embryo to be awakened. But from his current stage, it could take twenty to thirty years to an average cultivator. Blood cultivation was faster, at least in the lower realms. On the other hand, it was more dangerous, just like demonic cultivators in a sense. After all, demonic cultivators had obtained some of their ideas through the demons themselves.
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Time had passed and Cao Yun had not felt his Hun. Suddenly, he was distracted. Obviously, he was upset about it. But seeing High Mother Lisha herself, he understood that something important had happened. She wouldn't have disturbed him for no reason. Looking at his compass, he realized that it wasn't time for them to depart. Thanks to his compass, he could get an idea of the position of the stars relative to it. As such, he had some idea of the current day.
"Master, dire news from Duma City."
She didn't beat around the bush as she knew it would only upset him even more.
"Speak freely."
"Marshal Weiji abandoned his family and his rank to pursue his own vengeance. He got convinced that his niece's death had been orchestrated by City Lord Gui. As such, he snuck into Duma City undetected. He tried to assassinate City Lord Gui. Although his first attempt was foiled thanks to your array formation, Sister Xie Yue was unable to stop him. He forced through your defenses and claimed City Lord Gui's life. Sister Xie Yue tried to recover his mind but it was already being consumed by his Turbid Demons. His memories are completely gone. We do have what remains of his corpse though."
Cao Yun listened carefully. There was no falsehood in High Mother Lisha's voice. She was as factual as possible. Besides, Cao Yun knew Sister Xie Yue's abilities. She couldn't do much against Weiji He indeed. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had not thought that Weiji He would be so reckless. After all, he was putting his entire family at risk by acting in such a manner. Even though he had abandoned them, they could still be considered guilty by association. Despite Weiji He's services to Lord Wanghuo, the Sisters of the Abyss could still pressure him into punishing his bloodline.
"Did any Sister die?"
"No, master. A few mercenaries employed by City Lord Gui died. The Blazing Swallow is also untouched, thankfully."
"I see..."
Going back to his compass, Cao Yun tried to divine something. Considering the distance, it was almost impossible to understand anything about the array formations he had set up in Duma City. But it made sens that a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon had been able to break through it. Cao Yun had to adapt to the new situation.