Chapter 397: Fishing in one's mind

Cao Yun immediately entered into his sea of consciousness and pushed his mind cultivation to its limit. All of his mind was focused on anger and rage. In his mind, images of everything that had tormented him were coming in spades. As a result, the bone fragments rotating around his Po character were accelerating more and more. And it turned out that more fragments were being expelled from the Po character itself that was being heated by Shen the Fire Spirit.

This way of cultivating his mind was extremely aggressive but incredibly effective. As the fragments connected to the Po of Jing, the sane version of the Flying Poison, were being accelerated by Cao Yun's focus on his anger, they were being separated from the rest. This was a technique he had imagined after reading the third layer of 'Crimson Inferno Road'. After all, his 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks' had most likely been imagined by a demon. And Cao Yun was certain it was true as it was complementing 'Crimson Inferno Road' so well.

Unfortunately, it wasn't Cao Yun's goal to achieve a breakthrough. It would still require a few months. However, he was well on his way there. Although his blood cultivation was still in the first realm, his mind cultivation was closer to that of an Accomplished Demon. Usually, it would be suicidal as a Blood Child didn't have the tools to subdue a Turbid Demon. However, with his mind cultivation, Cao Yun had everything he needed. Besides, he also had the Drop of Wrath that could help him. But first, he had to completely subdue it. He was close but not quite there yet. Before taming it fully, he had to tame its Flying Poison. And for that, he had to tame his Flying Poison.

The reason behind Cao Yun's actions were not just to test his theories, which would influence his course of actions. He also had another card to play. While inside his sea of consciousness, he saw the attack of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish.

Beneath the surface of the clear water, there was a huge shadow. It was very close to the surface and didn't appear to be very thick but it was spread over a large area. Clearly, it was the shape of the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish. Although Cao Yun couldn't see it too well, the giant fish seemed to have its mouth open. And from its face, eight long tentacles were moving under the water. Those were barbels.

Abruptly, they leapt out of the water and went toward the center of Cao Yun's sea of consciousness. Against another Mortal Warrior, such an attack would have meant their death. Indeed, the 7-core demonic beast would have simply ripped out their very soul from their body. Unfortunately for the fish, Cao Yun had the ability to enter his sea of consciousness. Moreover, he had learned several ways to deal with such attacks.

Of course, he wasn't on the level of Xiao Xuefeng, but neither was his enemy. No matter how powerful it was, a demonic beast would never had the same skill as a Spirit Warrior. Even if it could attack one's soul, it was doing so out of instinct. Unlike humans, that fish could not learn martial arts or soul techniques. And this was why Cao Yun was confident fighting against it. If it had been any other 7-core demonic beast, he would have refused to engage. And he was convinced that Yong Ke had the same kind of confidence thanks to the clothes protecting her.

This Soul-Sucking Catfish was indeed powerful due to his soul attacks. But if one could overcome this, he wasn't more dangerous than a weak 6-core demonic beast in fact. And Cao Yun was almost certain he could deal with it alone. Since he had Yong Ke by his sides, he was thus certain that he could kill it. His main concern was whether or not he should kill it. But for now, he didn't have to think about it.

As the barbels were getting closer to Cao Yun's Nine Soul Peaks, he activated his Horn Star. Tiny shining dots appeared all around the star as though a constellation was trying to get out of the void, as it was indeed trying to do. Beneath their light, golden characters flew all over the place. Those were Cao Yun's Insight Writings about the Dao of the Spear. They relentlessly attacked the barbels and cut them into tiny pieces.

Sensing his target retaliating against it, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was shaken to its core. It had never suffered so as it had always attacked weaker preys. One of its preys was resisting it and even inflicting pain on its very soul. On the other hand, the concealed woman was not being affected as much as he wanted. Her physical body had been partially swallowed by the shadow and yet the fish had no access to her sea of consciousness at all.

Then something worse happened. The shadows around Yong Ke turned to ice around her. Several pieces of blue transparent silk appeared around her and lashed out all over the place. From the shadows, stalagmites or ice pierced through. Under the water, the black fish began to shake more and more violently. Water was going sent toward both Cao Yun and Yong Ke. The young woman turned everything to ice by sending a few strikes with her sword.

'The Goddess Freezes the Heavens'!

On the other hand, even though Cao Yun was within his sea of consciousness, he was still circulating his blood. In fact, after testing out his idea on his Flying Poison, his blood had been excited. His skin was extremely red as though he had a high fever. All the water coming toward him was turned to steam as soon as it almost touched his skin. But he still felt a bit of acidity within. As an alchemist who had read the book of Tree of Death, Cao Yun knew what this feeling was. He had been right!

The Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was swimming in an underground lake that was filled with poison. Most likely, this was the way Gu Song was forcing it to obey his orders. Now that Cao Yun had gathered all the pieces of the puzzle, he knew how to deal with that beast in order to optimize his chances of getting to Gu Song. He had assumed a fake identity just so he could get near him without alerting him. It would be most unwise to alert him by killing his beast slave right now.

In his sea of consciousness, the fight was completely one-sided. After all, Cao Yun had the Drop of Wrath. He would have loved to use his personal strength in order to temper his mind, but he had no time to lose right now. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had to focus almost all of his mind within his sea of consciousness to resist the soul attack. On the other hand, the demonic beast was free to act in the physical world. However, Cao Yun's mind was extremely faster than the fish.

As a few breaths passed in the physical world, several minutes had gone by in Cao Yun's mind. The golden characters had severed the fish's barbels and they were now attacking its main body. Just like in the real world, it was getting agitated and splashed water all over the place. The flames from Shen the Fire Spirit intensified. As they did, the Rune of Fire within the Drop of Wrath also shined with a tyrannic glow.

Then, Cao Yun activated his Drop of Wrath. A gigantic red demon made out of blood and liquid fire appeared like it had done before. With its powerful arms, it caught the tail of the catfish under water and extracted it. Once out of the water, Cao Yun could see its real form. However, Cao Yun had no intention of killing or destroying it. As a Mortal Warrior, he couldn't attack someone's soul as his own soul couldn't leave his body. On the other hand, he could very well attack a soul that had wandered into his sea of consciousness on its own. Dian Mo was living proof of that.

Understanding what Cao Yun had in mind, Dian Mo was a bit worried about what was going on outside. After working with Cao Yun for some time, he knew that he could do what he was setting out to do. But he was still afraid of what might happen to his physical body in the meantime. It turned out that he was absolutely right to be afraid.

Instinctively, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish felt that the true threat wasn't the icy woman, it was the immobile man. It seemed counter-intuitive. But as much as Yong Ke could inflict physical wounds, the fish was sensing that the human boy was doing something to the part of its soul it had sent inside of him. Immediately, it tried to reclaim it. The shadows let go of Cao Yun and retracted but it was too late. The part of its soulw as still within Cao Yun, unable to escape the grip of the Drop of Wrath.

Thus, the 7-core demonic beast emerged from the water. It jumped as high as it could in the glowing cave. As the water flowed off its back, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish was floating in the air. Suddenly, it opened its gaping mouth and tried to suck in Cao Yun. Since it couldn't destroy his soul, it would digest his flesh.

'Sailing Through the Starry Void'.

Without any hesitation, Yong Ke dashed toward Cao Yun. In an instant, the silk around her turned into an image of the cosmos. The stars were like icy dots in an ocean of blackness. Those strips of silk stretched toward Cao Yun and space seemed to shrink. It was as though the silk wasn't stretching but space itself was shrinking. Yong Ke appeared in front of the young man just as the fish was trying to swallow him.

'Worshiping the Ancestral Might'!

Yong Ke's long blade slashed toward the catfish's gaping maw. The moment it fell, the icy blade ripped away one of the beast's eyes. And it continued its course as the beast was convulsing in pain. Unfortunately, its skin was dense and slick enough that the trajectory of her attack was altered. Despite her best effort, she was unable to cut its head. Instead, her blade slashed toward some barbels that were on the side. In the end, her blade got stuck as it cut one of its barbels off but only penetrated a second one.

Because of the erratic movements of the wounded beast, Yong Ke's arm was being torn apart as she was trying to hold on to her weapon. Sensing that she didn't have the strength to hold on to it, she decided to retract her weapon within her spatial ring. During a fight, it was a very dangerous move. Indeed, she was forced to send Qi all around her weapon to send it back into her spatial ring. She even clashed with the Wei Qi of the beast that was around the tip of her blade. However, she was able to retract her weapon, leaving herself open to an attack before she could get it out again.

Although it didn't know all the subtleties about spatial rings, the Soul Obsidian Nian Fish could obviously tell that the young woman had lost her weapon. It was the perfect moment to attack. And so, it ceased the opportunity. Several barbels went toward her to ensnare her. Like six tentacles, they were coming for her.

Since she had lost her weapon, even for an instant, Yong Ke's Qi Manifestation had weakened and she could use her Sword Intent no more. However, she also knew how to protect herself with her fists.

Before the barbels could touch her, she sent a few palms toward them. Right now, Yong Ke was acting on instinct alone. Despite her skill, those barbels were so slick that they were hard to deflect. Thankfully, she didn't try to catch on to them or she would have been surprised. The catfish was able to control them with incredible accuracy and speed. In a few breaths, Yong Ke and the dark tentacles had already exchanged several dozens of moves. In another circumstance, Yong Ke would have tried to get away from them in order to have enough time to take her weapon out. However, if she moved too far, Cao Yun would become the target of the beast once again.

Even if she had met this young man for a very short amount of time, she knew that he was doing something important. After all, the catfish had retracted his shadow completely and was desperately trying to kill him. She had to protect him until he was done and this fight would surely be won. Without him, she wasn't sure she could kill the beast. If her clothes were damaged enough, she wouldn't be able to resist his soul attacks. Then, she would be forced to use her trump card and to call for help. But she really didn't want to do that. If she were to call for help, she wouldn't be able to continue her investigation. But if she died, she wouldn't either...

During the chaos, one of the barbels was able to go behind Yong Ke's back and caught on her leg. Immediately, it grabbed on to her. Small pikes were biting into her clothes. Despite the quality of her protection, she could feel them through the fabric even though they didn't pierce all the way through. Still, they were constricting her muscles and bones. The pressure was intense.

Without thinking, she sent a palm toward the barbel. Even she was surprised by her own move. A powerful gust of wind sliced through the tentacle that was cut in half in an instant. Yong Ke was astonished as she didn't recognize this move. Surely, she had learned it in her past life and couldn't remember it. By accident, she had found a piece of her lost past. Maybe she had to be grateful to this beast.

Unfortunately, she had unleashed this move by pure instinct. She would need some time to recall it and work on it. But maybe this simple palm could be a doorway to her forgotten past.

Anyway, the fight wasn't over yet. The pain inflicted on the demonic beast gave Yong Ke enough respite to fetch her long sword from her spatial ring. Once again, her attitude changed completely. Her Sword Intent and her Qi were fully manifested around her. As the temperature lowered around her, the surface of the barbels began to freeze a little. This wouldn't stop them, but it would make them less slippery and even a bit slower.