Chapter 237: Huang Liyue and Chen Guo

Of course, Huang Liyue had seen Cao Yun's face. And she knew almost everything about him. But thanks to Xiao Xuefeng and her relation with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, she had found no fault in his personal history. Moreover, Huang Cixi had not told her anything about his real identity.

In front of her was the boy that her young mistress had asked her to protect and she had refused to. But this was this very boy who had saved her life. Fate was really mysterious. Although she had said very firmly that she would never protect the boy who had killed members of her own family, she had been saved by him. Moreover, she had already promised to repay him for that.

Obviously, she knew that Cao Yun had acted to protect others and himself when he had killed Huang Longwei and Huang Lixin. Even according to the laws of the Huang family or the Hongchen Kingdom, he could not be held responsible for that. If people got judged for defending their own lives, there would be no justice in the kingdom. No cultivator would just let himself get killed. And many would not let someone get assassinated before their very eyes either. Besides, Cao Yun was a very prominent, if not the most prominent, outer disciple of the Wubei Sect. He had even become a direct disciple to Chief Elder Baishen. In a way, it made him similar to an inner disciple. And there was a huge chance that he would indeed choose to become one after his five years. After all, he had no powerful background, so he would have no reason to refuse becoming attached to the Wubei Sect.

To be fair in the matter, Huang Liyue would have probably acted herself if she had met Feng Yingyue chased down by several young men. But she still didn't want to protect someone who had shed the blood of her family, even if they were from a side branch. Despite her reluctance though, she had declared her vow to protect the young man who had saved her life.

"You're Chen Guo, right?"

Cao Yun had sensed something when Huang Liyue had finally discovered his face. Apparently, she knew who he was. That meant that she also knew what he had done. He had been worried about this, but he counted on the honor of the Huang family his great-grandfather had talked about.

"Yes, Senior. I am Chen Guo, from the Wubei Sect."

Thanks to his mind cultivation, not even Xiao Xuefeng could see through his lies, so a weakened Huang Liyue had no way of doing so. Besides, she was convinced that what she knew was true thanks to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. The way Cao Yun answered her was also a way to remind the woman that he had some powerful backing. Of course, if she were to kill him in this world, no one would ever be able to know that she had done it. So, no matter what Cao Yun could say, he had no way to prevent her from doing exactly what she wanted.

Thankfully, Huang Liyue was an orthodox and respectable cultivator. She still could assassinate people though. After all, she had been trapped in this world because she was chasing down Gui Bei in order to murder him. But Gui Bei and Cao Yun's circumstances were clearly different. One was a heinous criminal while the other had acted to help others and save his own life. In addition, her young mistress had literally asked her to protect this young man. She could not kill him, especially not after he had saved her life. Furthermore, he was also the one who had helped her young mistress heal her Lower Dantian.

Still, Huang Liyue decided to be blunt with him.

"You should have realized... I know what happened in Yinmen City. As a matter of fact, I know everything that transpired there. Chen Guo, you should know who my young mistress is."

Huang Liyue stood up and walked closer to Cao Yun. They were now fully lit by the torch and could clearly see each other's eyes.

"I used to be the personal bodyguard of the matriarch. And now, I serve as the bodyguard of the future matriarch. She is someone you should have heard about, Huang Cixi."

The name struck a cord. Although he had never met the young girl, he had heard of her. She was the younger sister of Huang Lixin and Huang Longwei whom he had killed. Her two brothers had fallen by his hands and Cao Yun had just saved her bodyguard. But something shocked him even more. She was the future matriarch of the Huang family!

Such a status was incredibly high. Not only were demonic cultivators his enemies, he had also forged a grudge with the future matriarch of one of the most powerful families of the Hongchen Kingdom. Did fate really hate him that much?

However, in Huang Liyue's eyes, he saw nothing that worried him. In fact, she had just stated it matter-of-factly and now she seemed to await his reaction.

He bowed down.

"Senior, I swear that I only ever acted rightfully. Huang Lixin was about to kill an innocent girl. And Huang Longwei attacked me with the intention to kill. I sincerely regret their deaths, but I had no other choice."

As he talked about the two brothers, Cao Yun's mind went especially to Huang Lixin. Yes, the boy had tried to kill Feng Yingyue, but when Cao Yun killed him, he had something else in mind. The Drop of Wrath had acted out when he had feared for his identity to be discovered. Could he sincerely claim that he had acted rightfully?

Yes, he would probably have killed him anyway in order to protect the young girl. But the moment he had killed him, he had no such great ambition in mind. Being faced with someone close to Huang Cixi, Cao Yun was questioning himself.

"You do not need to apologize for anything or explain yourself. Not to me! If you want to make amends for the lives you've taken, you may get an audience with Matriarch Huang Yufeng. Huang Cixi is away for the foreseeable future. However, you should know something about her. She has accepted that the deaths of her brothers were due to their own actions and she decided not to blame you for those. Still, I think it necessary that you meet her yourself to fully resolve the matter."

Huang Liyue had decided that it wasn't her place to reveal that Huang Cixi had been Cao Yun's little servant in the Wubei Sect. This was a conversation they should have together.

Hearing all of this, Cao Yun was surprised. He didn't think things would end so peacefully. If everything Huang Liyue was saying was true, he could resolve this grudge by simply talking it out... Cao Yun understood why the reputation of the Huang family was so good and why his great-grandfather held them in such high esteem.

"You saved my live and I swore to repay you. Thus, I swear that I will protect you with this life that you saved. Until we get out of this world, consider yourself under my protection."

"Thank you, Senior...."

Huang Liyue had not given her name yet.

"Huang Liyue!"

"Senior Huang Liyue, I... I sincerely don't know what to tell you."

"As I said, you should keep it for my young mistress. However, know that I can't get over the fact that you've shed our blood. No matter the reason, this is not something I am comfortable with. I hope you can understand and respect that. However, I swore to protect you and I will put not only my life but my name on the line!"

While she talked about this, Huang Liyue caressed her scar. On her face, Cao Yun could tell that she had suffered. Probably, people had died and she had kept this scar as a reminder. Those people had to be members of the Huang family, and most likely very close to her, maybe siblings or parents. That would also explain why she had become a bodyguard for her own family. Most of those were guesses, but Cao Yun was fairly confident.

Because of the shock Huang Liyue had suffered, she had a tougher time hiding her emotions. As a bodyguard, she had to stay as stoic as possible in her duties. Truth be told, Cao Yun was very close to the actual facts.

"Chen Guo, to protect you, I need to know how you got in here and what happened."

Her eyes immediately went to the Mountain Fenghuang egg. There was clearly some story behind it. With the egg, Cao Yun would not have jumped into a rift of pure darkness in the ground.

Huang Liyue was absolutely right, Cao Yun needed to explain everything to her. After all, it was possible that the demonic cultivator had followed him through the darkness. The only thing he left out was the relation between this place and the Drop of Wrath. Obviously, he did not mention Cleansed Asura either. Anyway, that would not bring much information in the immediate. If that became vital later, he would reassess the situation then. But for now, he mainly talked about the risk of stampede that had brought him in Yinmen City. He also explained that one member of his group was a spy for the demonic cultivators. Then he talked about the sacrifice of the egg's parents.

-

"I see. You've gone through a lot, both of you."

For the first time, Huang Liyue touched the egg that was still nested against Cao Yun's chest. In her veins flowed the blood of a True Fiery Fenghuang. As such, she felt very close to this egg. Just by touching it, she could feel the warmth of the chick inside.

"It's very close to hatching. Maybe a few months, maybe a few weeks. But it's lacking a lot of Qi in this place..."

From her spatial ring, Huang Liyue took out three 6-demonic cores. She gave two to Cao Yun and kept one for herself. Finally, she could replenish a huge part of her Qi through this. Cao Yun could barely believe his own eyes. Such cores were incredibly rare, and she had casually gifted him two of them.

"Use the first one for you and keep the second one close to the egg. It's from a Flame-Tailed Wolf. As its name suggests, that 6-demonic beast is related to the Fire element. Hence, its Qi is rich in Fire, just like a Fenghuang's Qi. I think the egg will naturally absorb the Qi from it if you let it."

Listening to her, Cao Yun put the first 6-demonic core close to the egg. And indeed, he soon realized that some Qi was being extracted from it. As a Mortal, he could roughly feel it because it was within his own Wei Qi. Then, he sat cross-legged with the other 6-demonic core and started to absorb some of the Qi within. In a similar manner, Huang Liyue did the same with her own 6-demonic core.

Unfortunately, while this kind of core was ample enough for Cao Yun, it was still too little for a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. Huang Liyue barely replenished her Lower Dantian. As it turned out, she had almost no pill or spirit stone or demonic core to replenish her Qi right now. Thankfully, she had a lot of pills to heal. As a bodyguard, she was always ready to use any means necessary to save her charge.

After several more hours, Cao Yun had used half of the demonic core and was at full capacity. With the rest of the demonic core, he could probably keep on cultivating and use the excess of Qi to help him open his remaining acupoints. After all, most of them were very easy to open. On the other hand, Huang Liyue had completely consumed her 6-demonic core and the egg had only absorbed a fraction of the one close to it. Cao Yun could not tell whether this was a good sign or not. Among all the books he had read, almost none were about beast taming. Even the books concerning demonic beasts did not really talk about their health. Most of them explained how they acted in order to hunt them, and how to use their parts.

Finally, Huang Liyue had regained most of her colors. She had now perfect clothes and seemed to be full of life. Of course, Cao Yun knew that this wasn't the case at all. Probably, she had the strength of an early to middle Mortal Warrior right now. If she were to go against the flying bone monsters once more, she would not stand a chance and would be crushed in an instant. In fact, she probably would be in trouble even against the giant creatures Cao Yun had fought on the ground.

"Chen Guo. I said that I would protect you. Thus, I need to tell you all I know about this world."

From her spatial ring, a map appeared. It had been drawn by hand and according to what Cao Yun knew already from his short exploration, it covered an area as large as the Wu Province. Even for a Spirit Warrior, it should have taken several months to make such a detailed map. Moreover, Cao Yun could see names written on the map. Among them, he saw Desolate Palaces, Plagued Plains, Ocean of Turbid Anguish, Merciful Deity Temples, and much more.

Huang Liyue sensed his gaze on the names she had written down.

"I needed to name those places to orientate myself." She paused a bit as Cao Yun was reading hundreds of different names more or less inspired. "Besides, I was getting bored.

"I do not think you know much about dimensions. But this place is clearly an isolated dimension. And the dark rift you fell into is the same entrance I used to get inside. Most likely, there are other entrances hidden in the mountains. And they all lead to this world. There is no way to know how wide this Yellow Death World is. But I would say that it is probably as large as the entire Hongchen Kingdom, if not larger. Even by flying as high as I could, I was not able to see any limit or boundary of any kind.

"I'm not sure of what this world is for now, but I have some ideas. However, our priority right now should be to find a way out. I need to warn Baizyun City that this dimension exists and you need to warn your friends about the traitor in their midst. The problem is that I explored almost all the land and was unable to find any clue. Even in the Merciful Deity Temples that are protected from the Evil Qi, I was unable to read the documents. The language used is different from everything I know."

Cao Yun thought back about the temples he had gone to. He had been right about the fact that someone else had explored them, it had been Huang Liyue. In his mind, he probably had the key to decipher those documents by comparing what he had read to what he had obtained from Cleansed Asura. But it would take a very very long time without more clues.

"That's why I decided to explore the Desolate Palaces in the sky."