Lord Wanghuo was indeed suppressing his cultivation as though he was a 5th-grade Accomplished Demon just like Cao Yun. But he couldn't hide the richness of his blood and he would use the full extent of his martial arts. In truth, the main difference was that he wouldn't use his full Demon Soul. This would reduce his advantage but he was still superior to Cao Yun on many points. Thankfully, Cao Yun's body and Golden Blood were both extremely advanced as well.
Aspects of Lord Wanghuo's fighting prowess Cao Yun could not compare with were his experience, his killing intent and what he was witnessing right now.
After the Accomplished Demon realm, an asura or a demon would then begin to harness the power of the Three Bodily Fires, namely the Bladder Fire or Common People's Fire, the Kidney Fire or Body's Ministerial Fire and the Heart Fire or Imperial Fire. By merging them together, they would form their True Fire. This True Fire would further refine their blood, and in particular their heart blood. It would also temper their marrow and their flesh, pushing their body to an entirely new level. This was known as the Exalted Demon realm.
Using this True Fire to temper their flesh without killing themselves was part of the fifth realm, the Reborn Demon realm. Just as humans would gain the ability to use a Domain during their fifth cultivation realm, so would asura and demons. However, this ability wasn't exactly a Domain. Instead of projecting a part of their soul cultivation around them to manipulate the world, they would alter their very body, flesh and blood. This was known as Blood Incarnation. Although some could mistake it for Qi Manifestation, this wasn't.
Right in front of Cao Yun, Lord Wanghuo was using a form of Blood Incarnation. Similarly to Emperor Weide who had somehow developed a pseudo-Domain, Lord Wanghuo could use a pseudo-Blood Incarnation. Even High Mother Lisha was incredulous. She had heard rumors but none had been able to confirm it and it had always seemed too much. If even the Sisters of the Abyss had been unable to confirm the rumors, no one had.
Lord Wanghuo's body kept on changing before Cao Yun's eyes. Unlike a true Blood Incarnation, the process was rather slow. Still, it was fast for humans. On the other hand, Cao Yun could have attacked many many times. However, this wasn't a battle to the death with a mortal enemy. Cao Yun's goal wasn't necessarily to win the duel. In fact, he wanted to make sure that Lord Wanghuo was pleased with it so he could gain exactly what he wanted and needed from him. Lord Wanghuo was clearly a simple man and Cao Yun had easily seen through him. Spoiling his fun would be a terrible idea.
After his skin, his muscles began to change. Despite the fat in his belly, his muscles became very visible under his red skin. They bulged and his arms became larger. From his shoulders, two large tusks came out. The blood covering them began to flow to the ground but some stayed as it flowed into detailed engravings in the ivory of those tusks.
On his body, his hair grew and turned brown. His already big stature increased even more. Soon, he was almost thirteen chi* tall. As such, he was a bit more than twice Cao Yun's size. Of course, in itself it wasn't really a big thing. After all, Cao Yun was fighting with a spear. Moreover, cultivators rarely had to fight too close to each other. But this was intimidating.
Besides, his killing intent did grow along with his body. When Lord Wanghuo was done transforming, Cao Yun felt as though he was on a battlefield where thousands upon thousands of enemies were staring at him with deep hatred in their hearts. The sensation wasn't completely new, but he had almost never felt such a powerful killing intent. If Cao Yun's mind cultivation had not been high enough, he might have crumbled and knelt. Thus, if Lord Wanghuo had not suppressed his cultivation, Cao Yun would have been at a terrible disadvantage as he would have had to fight this urge all the time.
"Thanks, young friend. It seems that you do intend to go all-out and so will I."
This time, every word from Lord Wanghuo's mouth sounded like a death threat. The difference between his actual tone and the feelings caused by his words was extremely strange. Although the young man could tell that there was no actual threat behind those words, something deep within him was still terrified.
Lord Wanghuo bowed slightly and made a specific gesture with his fists. This was a salute unique to the Desolate Sepulcher. Obviously, Cao Yun copied him. The duel had officially started and High Mother Lisha was ready to intervene at any moment. Honestly, she wasn't sure what she could do if Lord Wanghuo lost control. But if Cao Yun died, she and the other High Mothers would follow him in death. So she would put her life on the line if things went in that direction. Hopefully, they wouldn't...
Cao Yun made the first move. With absolutely no hesitation, he threw many of his swords all around the battlefield. Many stabbed through pillars of rocks and completely shattered them. There was no subtlety and he didn't even try to conceal his weapons. After all, Lord Wanghuo knew that those swords weren't met to stab him, they were forming some array formation around him. But since he wasn't knowledgeable when it came to array formations, short of stopping all of the swords, he couldn't do anything.
With his very first move, Cao Yun had created several array formations he could activate anytime he wanted. But, for the time being, he didn't.
On the other hand, Lord Wanghuo demonstrated his fighting style. He was extremely direct and brutal.
'Crimson Sunder Strike'!
In an instant, Lord Wanghuo was right in front of Cao Yun and he threw a simple punch in his face. Of course, a simple punch from Lord Wanghuo in his current state was absolutely deadly.
'Mountain Under Thunder'
While his body was going down toward the ground, Cao Yun raised his spear horizontally to block the punch. Although he was able to redirect the blow, he still felt tremendous vibrations going through his spear and then his arms. Using his own Qi and understanding of vibration, he was able to stop them. His arms only trembled an instant, impressing Lord Wanghuo.
He didn't relent in his attack. Before Cao Yun could get back to the ground, Lord Wanghuo unleashed several leg strikes.
'Throne Breaker'!
Each strike manifested a giant elephant foot covered in brown fur still slick with blood. The young man was able to block most of them and evaded another few. On the ground, they left deep scars. Many pillars had already exploded into dust and the ground itself was shaking with a few cracks all over the place.
Cao Yun went down inside the cloud of dust caused by those opening moves. However, Lord Wanghuo didn't follow him. Instead, he rose in the air and used his 'Blood Tyrant's Art' martial art.
'Blood Furnace Palm'!
After his leg strikes, Lord Wanghuo sent thousands of palm strikes everywhere. There was almost no place that was spared by his fury. Obviously, his goal was to force Cao Yun out. He didn't want to chase him for hours. No, he wanted a direct confrontation. In a matter of seconds, the topography of this place had already changed. A fight between middle Accomplished Demons was an absolute catastrophe. One could imagine what the Great War between Emperor Nuwa and Demon God Da Mo was like. After all, they had quite literally created this continent.
Cao Yun wasn't trying to hide though. As soon as Lord Wanghuo lost him, Cao Yun used his stealth and immediately left the cloud of dust. Seeing the barrage of palms trikes from Lord Wanghuo, the young man decided to act swiftly as he was endangering the array formations he had just set.
'Azure Dragon Tears the East Sky'!
Cao Yun used the technique he had invented by merging his family's martial arts with his own.
All of a sudden, he appeared behind Lord Wanghuo who had been unable to see through his stealth amid the fight. Cao Yun's spear stabbed directly toward Lord Wanghuo's heart through his furry back. Hundreds of small swords flew at the same time. Focusing both his martial art and his Spear Intent, 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' turned into a small tornado with an azure dragon coiling around it.
'Tyrannic Bell'
Lord Wanghuo's skin suddenly turned as solid as Silk Gold. The swords collided with him. Sparks erupted when they exploded on his skin. By the time Cao Yun's attack reached him, Lord Wanghuo had been able to move around. In an instant, he assessed the attack. Although it might not pierce through him, it would indeed stab through his skin and probably deep into his flesh. Lord Wanghuo and High Mother Lisha were both impressed.
As he got more excited, Lord Wanghuo grabbed the spear with his two hands.
'Blood King's Grasp'
Cao Yun's spear was spinning faster than any natural tornado. Despite his 'Tyrannic Bell' and his Blood Incarnation, the skin of Lord Wanghuo's hands was shredded. His heavy blood covered Cao Yun's spear. This slowed down the rotation though, considering how heavy it was.
While he was trying to stop the spear with his bare hands, Lord Wanghuo was pushed back. At the same time, the azure dragon moving along the shaft of the spear attacked the king. It coiled around his entire body and bit into his neck. Even the azure dragon's teeth couldn't get too deep into his skin, but they did draw blood.
When the spear finally stopped moving, Lord Wanghuo grabbed it firmly and tugged on it to get Cao Yun. The young man decided not to let go of his weapon and got thrown toward his opponent. In fact, he found himself thrown toward his left shoulder while Lord Wanghuo's right hand had pulled 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' behind him.
'Stampede of Extreme Despair'
Cao Yun could see himself be impaled on the large tusk protruding from Lord Wanghuo's massive shoulder. In fact, he was able to see the image of a gigantic mammoth. Only in books had Cao Yun seen this kind of animal very reminiscent of the elephants he was a bit more familiar with.
Knowing the terrible fate awaiting him, Cao Yun struck his own spear. This sent a powerful vibration force in it that even impacted Lord Wanghuo. As his blood was covering the spear, his hold on it wasn't too good. It slipped from his hand and struck his side. Although the impact wasn't too strong, this allowed Cao Yun to break free. He altered his trajectory at the last moment.
'Imperial Throne'
A powerful wind erupted all around Cao Yun. With a movement of his palm, he struck Lord Wanghuo's shoulder before he got himself impaled and tried to move away.
'Heaven Crushing Mace'
As Cao Yun had gotten close enough, Lord Wanghuo didn't want to let him go. Raising both his arms, he struck down with his two fists in a downward motion. Although Cao Yun was able to move far enough to avoid his fists, he got struck by the shockwave of the attack. Within it, Lord Wanghuo's killing intent was mixed with his Wei Qi.
Cao Yun was brutally crushed toward the ground. He literally sunk into the ground under the force of the impact. Many of his bones were cracked. Some of his ribs even shattered in his chest and threw tiny sharp pieces into his own lungs. As blood was filling his chest, Cao Yun immediately sent his Qi in his organs to repair them while he was controlling his blood stop the hemorrhage.
Lord Wanghuo's face showed a bit of disappointment until he saw Cao Yun storm out of the ground. Hundreds of small swords were thrown toward Lord Wanghuo to cover Cao Yun's rapid movement.
'Fish in the Galaxy'
While he was moving away from Lord Wanghuo, Cao Yun changed his weapon and took two other spears he had prepared beforehand. He only held to one while the other was floating around him. Behind him, space broke apart as though glass. And the seven Piercing Stars appeared.
As he threw his spear toward Lord Wanghuo, pieces of this broken glass were taken along with it. Each piece of glass contained either one of the seven Piercing Stars or smaller stars from the Horn and Neck Constellations.
In the sky, the seven Piercing Stars were also visible along with two larger constellations and a smaller one, the Root Constellation Cao Yun was working on.
Lord Wanghuo tried to avoid the spear but it was behaving strangely as though space was being distorted around it. And it was. Although Cao Yun couldn't understand the Dao of Space, he had gotten used to the way space was apparently broken all over the Piaolu planet. His spear was swimming in space and causing ripples to affect and distort it along the way.
Unable to perfectly dodge it, Lord Wanghuo closed his arms and used his 'Tyrannical Bell'. Closing his arms tightly, the two tusks formed a kind of barrier in front of him. The spear collided with his massive shoulders and shattered, also breaking apart one of his tusks. Then, the second spear arrived too.
The very moment it struck Lord Wanghuo, he relaxed his body and moved around it, letting the spear go forward. His shoulder was a bit lacerated and his remaining tusk grazed but he avoided the second strike. Since he couldn't predict the movement of the spear, he waited before it was close enough to follow its trajectory and let it go past him.
Cao Yun had taken his original spear back in hand. He was already exhausted as he had been using 'Dragon's Heart' since the very beginning of the duel. But he knew that this fight would not end just yet. He could clearly see it in Lord Wanghuo's eyes. Indeed, his opponent was absolutely excited by this fight and he wanted much more.
Some drops of Lord Wanghuo's Golden Blood finally hit the ground below. They were even heavier than Cao Yun's Golden Blood. Each drop caused the ground to shake a little. When the drops exploded on the ground, the quantity of blood was quite impressive. Indeed, Lord Wanghuo's blood was extremely dense. Each drop was forming a tiny puddle.
* 13 chi = 13 ft ~= 4 m