Chapter 232: Winds of Despair

After the disappearance of the human, the Bone Kings, as Huang Liyue had called them, came down from the sky. Seeing them get near him, Cao Yun drew back into the temples. Those structures were able to fend off the Evil Qi. Hopefully, they would also work in both directions and his own presence would be invisible. Just to be safe, Cao Yun activated his stealth technique, 'Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves', and pushed his mind cultivation to the maximum to enhance it.

All his vital functions slowed down and his presence got completely erased. No Mortal could ever detect him without looking straight at him. On the other hand, experienced Mortal Warriors could still detect the Qi flowing through his meridians. And of course, Spirit Warriors had spiritual senses against which this kind of stealth meant almost nothing. They could literally spread their soul around them to sense any disturbance.

Thankfully, the Bone Kings were busy with something else. The first one to come down was the biggest with eight horns. It had come down at the spot where the bones from the one Huang Liyue had destroyed had fallen. Scattered all over the ground, the bones slowly levitated in the air.

Watching from afar, Cao Yun thought that those creatures were going to do the same thing as the giant he had observed would do. But they acted differently. Instead of absorbing the bones themselves, they turned them into a fine powder. When Cao Yun imagined that finally that bone powder would get absorbed and would join the body of the monster, it caught on fire instead. A black fire was slowly burning with the bone powder as fuel. Then, this black fire accumulated around the horns of the crowned spine.

It was very small but its ninth horn began to grow a little.

After it had absorbed the biggest pieces of bones in such a way, the giant monster flew back up and went into one of the celestial palaces. Only when it was finished, did the six others fully descend themselves. They seemed to naturally have decided the distribution of the remnants from their former companion. Each one only worked in its own area and did not try to contend with the others. Moreover, the areas depended mainly on their own size and the number of their horns.

However, just like the giant who did not care about inferior skeletons, the crowned spines gathering the remnants showed no mercy for the giants buried in the black sand. Here and there, a few giants got extracted from the black sand as the remnants of the Bone King levitated in the air, probably only because they were close by. And they shared the same fate, burned into a black flame and then absorbed into the horns of the remaining Bone Kings.

As they were absorbing those black flames, Cao Yun noticed no immediate change on them except for their horns. However, after that, he noticed that they were slowly regenerating. Unlike the other skeletons who absorbed the bones, those creatures seemed to directly extract the Death Energy from them. This process probably allowed them to refine it further.

What Huang Liyue had noticed was that those things were trying to create a soul. From the Death Energy which was a degenerate form of Po, the corporeal soul, they were slowly building up an entirely new soul. This was what gave them the ability to fly for example, just like Spirit Warriors with their Soul Embryo in a sense. The bones, which were a physical manifestation of Death Energy through Evil Qi, were not that useful for them. With their pseudo-soul they could easily use the Evil Qi in the air to rebuild bones, just like they were able to manifest various bone weapons.

For now, Cao Yun had no way of knowing all of those details, but it didn't stop him from having many hypotheses. Moreover, he had some understanding of both souls, Death Energy and Evil Qi. Thus, his own deductions were not that far off from the mark. After all, the Drop of Wrath in his heart was trying to rebuild its own Po. So the bone creatures were not that different from it.

-

Only when the Bone Kings had all returned to their respective celestial palaces did Cao Yun heave a sigh of relief. No more bone creature was present on the ground. However, there were now huge craters everywhere due to the fallen Bone King and the few giants who had been extracted and burned away. Earlier, this scenery looked like a graveyard but now it was truly a battlefield covered in fighting scars and corpses.

After the several days spent in those temples, Cao Yun had searched everything he could. There was nothing more to find here, especially not food, nor any way to leave. Thus, he looked at the horizon, in the direction Huang Liyue had gone.

That woman was the only lead he had right now. Despite his encounter with Huang Lixin and Huang Longwei, Cao Yun kept a good impression of the main branch of the Huang family. The actions of a few should not condemn an entire family after all. Furthermore, as a Spirit Warrior, she would be a big help to try and get out of this place. But Cao Yun was still a bit unsure. The fact that he had killed two members of the Huang family should been known, especially by someone with so much power within the main branch of the Huang family, and probably authority then. But on the other hand, he was from the Wubei Sect.

At worst, the Huang family would want to judge him, not execute him right away, right?

But they were in a place where no one would ever find out what had happened. If that woman harbored any ill will toward him, he would die without leaving any trace. But again, without her help, he would probably die without leaving any trace either. And would an orthodox Spirit Warrior stoop so low as to kill a junior?

Once more, Cao Yun was plagued with uncertainty. He really wanted to energize this Chamber of Heavenly Court. This would increase both his reaction speed and his decision making. In a way, he was somehow counting on it to help him erase his uncertainties, but that probably wouldn't be that easy. However, it would allow him to make up his mind faster, maybe think faster as well.

Although he had now clearly chosen a path for his life, he was still uncertain when it came to smaller decisions.

Still, in the end, he decided to go find that woman. After all, he had no real other options. Then came the problem of actually finding her. If she was hurt badly, which was probably the case, she could not maintain her stealth and Cao Yun would be able to find her. Besides, the egg had a bloodline close to the one of the True Fiery Fenghuang. As such, it could help him just by its instinctive reactions. On the other hand, if she was not too badly hurt, she would detect Cao Yun before he could. Obviously, if she were to discover a human in this place, she would want to interrogate him. And in the end, he would find her as well.

Looking back, Cao Yun thought it was a pity to leave all those documents from the temples behind. But he also felt that it was strangely the right thing to do. Even if he had wanted to take them with him, without any spatial tool, that would be complicated. And somehow, they felt like they belonged in those temples. Thinking back on it, that woman had probably been the one who had explored those temples before him. Cao Yun had felt that someone had been there and she was the most obvious answer.

-

Using his stealth at its highest degree, Cao Yun went in the direction of Huang Liyue. Thankfully, all the skeletons had disappeared for now, either in the celestial palaces or underground. Now that he left the temples, Cao Yun also realized that there was no more trace of Evil Qi or Death Energy in the air. The skeletons had absorbed all of it by now. This relieved him of yet another burden as he had no more control to exert on the Drop of Wrath.

Of course, it was getting easier and easier to control the Drop of Wrath but it was still taking a bit of mental strength. Now, he could divert everything toward his stealth. Unfortunately, the only technique he had mastered was 'Locking the Seven and Stopping the Waves' which was only a 4-star Earth technique. In theory, any technique, no matter its tier, could be brought to unimaginable height by a true practitioner. It was just like saying that an artist could turn anything into a masterpiece with enough talent.

But Cao Yun was not an expert in stealth. Although he had read many other books, he had no stealth technique higher than this one. Indeed, they were techniques that were not easily shared with others. The reason was rather obvious. They could be used for very nefarious purposes. As such, they were often hidden. And there were not that many stealth techniques to begin with. It was not really in the culture of the Hongchen Kingdom. Moreover, Spirit Warriors had great control over their own Qi and could easily hide their presence from lower cultivators without too much problem.

Anyway, Cao Yun was slowly figuring out everything he was truly missing. Concerning the spatial tools, it was just a matter of time before he could finally become a Mortal Warrior and use them. But finding a spatial ring was easier said than done. With his current status though, the Wubei Sect would most likely provide him with one. However, he had no way of knowing how spacious it would be.

Then, he knew that stealth would be a true ace he would need. His main goal was still to find out what had happened to his family and make the culprits pay. For that very purpose, being able to infiltrate any place without being detected would be a great help. Besides, he was up against dangerous enemies, the demonic cultivators, so he had to be able to hide from them.

Anyway, right now, he focused all of his mind on two things, stealth and perception. As much as he didn't want to be discovered, he wanted to discover the Huang woman who had fallen from the sky. Hopefully, she would be able to help him. Since she had a spatial ring, she may even have some food on her for him. With food, water and his Drop of Wrath to protect him from Evil Qi and Death Energy, Cao Yun would be in no immediate danger for the foreseeable future. Then, he could just focus on finding a way out of this place.

While he walked, he saw that the scenery slowly changed. He literally walked for five days straight. Once again, his legs were painful as he had tried to go as fast as possible without disturbing the very ground on which he was walking. 'Stopping the Waves' was very useful for this, but it strained his leg muscles some more. Compared to what he could have done before entering the Wubei Sect, those five days were equivalent to more than three weeks of travel. Indeed, Cao Yun could easily walk without any interruption and any sleep for five days now. In addition, the terrain was perfectly flat.

In other words, this plain was very huge. Yet, he saw no trace of Huang Liyue, she had been blasted away with incredible force. But finally, Cao Yun saw some mountains. Just like everything around, they were perfectly black. Those mountains looked like ferocious fangs who had grown from the ground. They were not welcoming at all. Unfortunately, they were clearly on the trajectory of Huang Liyue. Since they were very high as well, it was likely that the woman had collided with those mountains and was now either on the mountains or buried in rubbles.

Cao Yun found those mountains very ominous, but they were a change in the scenery. The fact that there was change was a good thing. A new scenery meant new possibilities of exploration. Maybe he could find clues in those mountains. Of course, the best thing he hoped to find was Huang Liyue. And what really made Cao Yun happy was the possibility to hide. Indeed, hiding in the middle of a plain was almost impossible. Right now, the only way to get unseen would be to bury himself in the black sand which was full of Evil Qi and Death Energy. Getting in the sand was as pleasant as burying himself into blazing charcoals.

Hence, Cao Yun proceeded to climbing those black mountains. And right away, he noticed that they were covered with a fine powder of both bones and ashes who had turned perfectly black. Beneath this powder, the rocks seemed to be crystallized Evil Qi and Death Energy. It was difficult to be sure for a mere Mortal, but it reminded Cao Yun of spirit stones. They were crystallized Qi that had infiltrated the rocks. Just like them, Evil Qi and Death Energy seemed to have permeated and changed the rocks.

However, as he was climbing, something unexpected happened once again. All of a sudden a powerful wind started to blow from the mountains toward the plains. It was just as sudden as the black rain. Most of the fine powder from the mountains got blown away toward the plains. Unlike the rain, Cao Yun was able to resist this powerful gust of wind thanks to the time he had passed in Howling Crane Gorges. Moreover, his 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' was revolving around the wind which derived from the Wood element.

This wind, unlike the black rain, had no Evil Qi or Death Energy in it. However, it was blowing away the powder on the surface of the mountains, sending more black sand on the plains. And as such, it was full of tiny particles of that black sand rich in Evil Qi and Death Energy. So Cao Yun had to cover his mouth, nose and eyes to avoid getting any in his body. But the sand was still whipping his flesh.

However, he kept on going and was not hindered by it too much. Looking backward, he could imagine that the black sand would slowly recover the entire world he was in. Most likely, the black rain had eroded the mountains and now the powerful wind was scattering its dust everywhere. Even the temples would end up under the black sand in time. This world was really dead and abandoned.