Chapter 342: Sealing the jail

Using his 'Ashen Feather Seal', Cao Yun had surrounded his Drop of Wrath with ashes. Those ashes were made from Qi Manifestation. That meant that he could literally dissolve them at any time. Thus, unless he wanted to, nothing from his body or his soul could be detected outside. That was obviously also true for his Drop of Wrath. On the other hand, the influences from the outside world could still go through him. Otherwise, it would be possible to detect him because there would be a vacuum. However, the ashes were able to trouble most senses. In a sense, this was like being engulfed in a mist.

And in this mist of ashes, Cao Yun was able to feel the vitality of Da Mo's blood. Dian Mo could also feel it. In him, a deep feeling of nostalgia emerged. Da Mo had given him life. Although demons were known to be violent and cruel toward humans and sometimes each other, they were not mindless monsters. Loyalty was just as prevalent within demons as it was within humans. Demons were not that different from humans all things considered. They were however, more violent and their emotions were much more flamboyant.

As such, Dian Mo who had been birthed by a demon had kept those characteristics. And he was still thankful to Demon God Da Mo. He had literally chosen his own name so that it would reflect his lineage with the Demon God. Although helping a human seal this familiar body was appalling, the idea of a human taking over this body grown from Da Mo's blood was just impossible to entertain. Besides, there was no way to destroy this body for now. He would just help the humans seal it to earn Cao Yun's trust. Dian Mo was ready to play the long game. But in the end, he would come back here and free Da Mo.

Maybe there was a way to get his soul back in his body somehow. Maybe Demon God Da Mo had other contingencies. In the worst case scenario, Dian Mo could also take this body for himself.

Cao Yun was not a fool. He knew that Dian Mo was helping him for his own interests foremost. But right now, he was convinced that Dian Mo truly wanted this body sealed. And he was right. As such, he decided to listen to him.

"What should I do now?"

"You must go in the last level of the Devil's Jail."

Suddenly, Cao Yun stopped in his tracks. The Devil's Jail was known to possess a lot of array formations to subdue powerful cultivators. In the last level, even late Spirit Warriors would be suppressed. This was why this was a great prison. Since no one in the Hongchen Kingdom was above 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, no one could escape this last level. However, a Mortal Warrior who would go down would probably be crushed by those array formations.

"Do not worry. I don't intend for you to die. When this mockery of Da Mo got out, the array formations were all stopped. Most of them are probably destroyed already. Besides, as soon as you reach the last level, you'll be able to activate the ultimate seal. Then, with a little help from your elders, that thing will be trapped underground once more."

"Did you just forget that this demon is blocking the path, and is probably completely congesting the entire Devil's Jail?"

"Of course not. But the main access is not the only one. Otherwise it would be impossible to repair the array formations. There are other tunnels hidden to get to the bottom of this Devil's Jail. You just need to know how to open them. And luckily, I know how to do that. Just listen to me and follow my instructions."

Without any better option, Cao Yun did just that. Thankfully, the destruction had not completely broken everything around the Devil's Jail. The disciplinary pavilion had been blown away, but its rubles had flown away during Da Mo's exit. Then, the fight with Sect Leader Xuan and the chief elders against Mo Tian and Da Mo's arm had finished to scatter them. There was almost no rubble here. Thus, Cao Yun could easily find what Dian Mo was referring to. Fairly easily, he opened some secret passage that had probably been under the walls of the disciplinary pavilion. No one had ever noticed it.

Finally, he quietly entered into the passage. It went deep underground and was only large enough for one man. Since Cao Yun had put away all his belongings in his spatial ring, he was not hindered by his weapon and was able to go through it without any problem.

After running for a few minutes, he finally reached a wall. Once more, Dian Mo explained to him how to open it. There were secret passages and tunnels everywhere down there and Dian Mo knew precisely which one was the one they needed to go through. When the wall opened, Cao Yun was faced with the cave under the Devil's Jail. Right above his head, he could see the legs of Da Mo. His entire body was literally inside the Devil's Jail. For now though, only his arm and a part of his shoulder had been able to get out. After that, the Devil's Jail would probably be unusable for a very long time.

Even in the Forsaken Dao Era, people knew how to build array formations to suppress Spirit Warriors. But it took an awful lot of time to set them up. In fact, it could take several generations of Spirit Warriors for the sect to be able to repair all the damages done to the lowest levels. Thankfully, they were rarely used. To be honest, there were high chances that the sect would not even try to rebuild it at all. It would be a huge loss of resources for something that didn't seem that important right now with the demons and the demonic cultivators threatening mankind. Imprisonment was meant for times of peace. During war, it was best to kill one's opponents or at least destroy their cultivation.

Anyway, Cao Yun was not worried about those matters right now. He walked forward a little and then realized something. The Devil's Jail was not just a building. Its exterior walls had all withstood Da Mo's onslaught. Although the interior was destroyed, there was a huge cylinder still intact around the giant body of the red demon. There was no light at all where Cao Yun was but he could still perceive clearly thanks to his heightened senses. This cylinder was not simple. He could not even make out in what material it had been built.

"This is the Devil's Jail. You used it as a prison while, in fact, it is one giant seal. And it has been created to crush down on an enemy and keep him trapped for millenniums. Even I don't know who was originally trapped under this seal but they died with enough time. When it was found again, it was assumed to be some kind of building and because of the properties of the seal still within, it was used as an underground prison.

"Today, you and I will reactivate the original seal that still exists within the structure. From what I could sense in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, this seal was called the Imperial Defamation Stamp. I do not know who it was used against but that person had to be at least as strong as an early Immortal. Yet, this seal worked and totally trapped them, slowly draining their vitality until death. They remained trapped for several millenniums before the fall of the humans to the hands of my master.

"You should rejoice. Today, you will see the past glory of your species. But remember that they were all subjugated by Demon God Da Mo in the end."

"I could do without your taunts. That doesn't really prove your superiority as much as you would think. Just tell me how to activate it."

"It's simple enough with your blood. This seal has been completely drained by the first Immortal it trapped. Since then, it has slowly decayed to a point where even a Sage could get free from its influence. If it was still as powerful as it was before, Da Mo's body would have had no chance of escaping. And to replenish its vitality, only your blood is potent enough. If I were to use other humans, it would take thousands of them to reach the same result. This isn't really a practical solution given the time we have been allotted."

"Then, you just want me to give my blood to the seal in order to rejuvenate it?!"

"Precisely! But don't worry, you won't have to give all of your blood. Only three or four sheng will be enough."

The human body contained roughly five sheng of blood. Although Cao Yun's blood was denser and richer, he had the same amount as everybody else. It was just heavier and way more condensed. After using almost all of his blood, he would be extremely weak. And it would take him several weeks or even months to replenish it despite his blood cultivation and his Drop of Wrath. Maybe with a powerful pill, he could go faster. But after the damage he had sustained to his Bai Hui, Cao Yun was not ready to try and take any shortcut.

It could be a blessing in disguise though. Now that he had a better understanding of blood cultivation, it would allow him to build a sturdier base. However, he knew that Dian Mo would try to use this opportunity to take over.

"I know what you're thinking... Of course, I want to take your body. And of course I would like to use a moment of weakness to do so. But think about it. If I do that, I will still be as weak as you will be. And I will be in the midst of powerful Spirit Warriors watching over you. Do you think they won't see something strange and different with you?

"First of all, just wrestling control of your body from you will create disturbances that they could pick on. Then, I won't necessarily be able to steal all your memories. Lastly, I won't master all your techniques. If I steal your body right now, I will doom myself right away. And even if it's weakened, I'm not sure whether I can take care of this Drop of Wrath as you call it.

"For now, I'll just observe the situation. After all, you promised to let me get a new body in a hundred years if you find one suitable. I can wait until then before betraying you."

Of course, Cao Yun did not believe Dian Mo. But it was true that he had no incentive to try and take over his body right now. As long as he was within the Wubei Sect, and even the Hongchen Kingdom, there would be people to see through the change. Unless Dian Mo could be sure to be powerful enough to protect himself, he had all the reasons in the world not to try and overtake Cao Yun. Instead, he would probably try to manipulate him and earn his trust.

As long as he knew what he was up against, Cao Yun wasn't too worried. And he had also detected some weaknesses in Dian Mo. It wasn't clear yet who would be manipulating who. Dian Mo was a treasure trove of secrets. Because he had sworn not to harm or expose him, Cao Yun could only get access to what he knew through verbal exchanges. Any form of Soul Memory Search would entail a form of danger. As such, it would fall under acts that would willingly harm Dian Mo.

Both Dian Mo and Cao Yun were planning their next move. But first they had to take care of the threat right in front of them.

From above, they could hear the fight getting more and more intense.

Without losing much more time, Cao Yun activated first his blood cultivation, 'Storms in the Crimson Furnace'. With 'Reducing the Five Sheng', he condensed all of his blood in his heart, in contact with the physical Drop of Wrath. This was an attempt to strengthen his blood one last time in order to reduce the volume needed for the ritual.

Then, he followed the instructions of Dian Mo to the letter. However, he made sure to understand what he was doing to discern any potential trap. There didn't seem to be any. His blood was taken out of his body. With his Qi, he controlled the blood to form very specific characters and send them into the Devil's Jail. The exterior walls began to glimmer with crimson light. It was a huge cylinder and some parts began to move. It seemed to be in fact made of twelve cylinders stacked up. In their center was a longer cylinder forming the outermost inner wall of the Devil's Jail.

When the blood characters permeated the seal, the cylinders began to rotate with increasing speed.

Above, Mo Tian did not perceive that at first as the wall in contact with Da Mo's body was still immobile. But as the first cylinders on the top started to move around, even with the chaos of the battle, he felt it.

Immediately, Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng also understood that Cao Yun had succeeded. The ultimate seal of the Devil's Jail had just been activated. Now it was time for them to force Da Mo's body down into the lowest levels of the Devil's Jail to make sure he was trapped. Once Da Mo was taken care of, Mo Tian could be dealt with more easily. He had already expended a lot of his strength and he had gone all-out on this plan. Alone against fifteen chief elders and Sect Leader Xuan, he would have no chance at all.

Right now, Mo Tian was painfully aware of that fact. And he didn't want to lose the trump card that was Da Mo's body. Although he didn't know exactly what was going on, he could hazard a guess. The Devil's Jail had trapped the regrown body of Da Mo. And he was certain someone was trying to duplicate the result. He had to get out of the Devil's Jail right away. Although it could kill him, his best chance was to directly jump with his Soul Embryo into Da Mo's body. His physical body would die immediately. But if he could take over Da Mo's body, he would transcend the limit imposed on humans. He would show everyone he was right.

More than anything else, he would get a shot at being a true immortal. He wouldn't have to die of old age like a common mortal.