Chapter 454: Observing death
Since the fight had begun, less than a minute had gone by. Mortal Warriors were just too powerful compared with Mortals even late Mortals. Watching this incredible fight, Jie Yuan was completely frozen. If he was facing them, he would be like a toddler fighting a lion. Clearly, he had made the right decision when he had chosen never to come back to the cave. And he had also made the right decision to follow this alchemist. Even though he couldn't sense his cultivation, he could still guess. And in his modest opinion, Cao Yun wasn't even a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior. However, he was a great fighter and a smart man as well. After all, he was a 5-star alchemist.
Cao Yun had studied a bit of battle formations with Yun Ping. Although he wasn't as talented as he was, Cao Yun didn't need to be. Unlike his friend, he didn't intend to lead an army into battle. Thus, he only needed to be talented enough to recognize a battle formation and analyze its flaws. With his knowledge of array formations and his understanding of the Six Stratagems, analyzing the battle formation of those bandits had been rather easy.
Among the Six Stratagems many could be used by a lone fighter. Letting the Deceptions of Gold and Mud Flow taught how to observe the battlefield and how to look at victory and defeat with the same coldness. The prospect of defeat or victory should not influence one's mind and they could make terrible decisions. In the same vein, Order in Chaos taught how to keep the mind perfectly clear, but it was related more directly to how to keep the heads of the other fighters cool and how to boost the overall morale. Besides, Cao Yun had his mind cultivation so it was very easy for him stay perfectly calm even under stress.
Subduing Rivers and Mountains was all about controlling space and time. It taught how to best use the terrain and to manipulate the rhythm of a battle. It was probably the principle that was the most closely related to array formations.
Mundane General Enters the Hut was a principle that Cao Yun liked particularly because it was in accordance with what his masters had taught him as well in martial arts. It consisted in cutting down any fancy move or tactic. Using only the most basic of techniques, one could excel and take down any enemy. What mattered wasn't the complexity of one's technique but their proficiency in it and in using it at the right moment. Of course, in a battlefield using difficult techniques with thousands of soldiers would make everything much more complicated to lead for any strategist. But this was also true for a duel. If one simple move could end a fight, it was better than ten incredible moves.
Painting with Lies and Truth and Breathing as One were two principles that were difficult to apply to a single fighter as they were about combining several battle formations together and harmonizing many fighters respectively.
Now that there were only two of them in front of him, he was certain of his victory. To be fair, he had not doubted that for even an instant. But the possibility of defeat was always present in any fight. Cao Yun was not arrogant enough to believe he was invincible yet. Against Mortals, it would have been a different story though. Unless more than a hundred Mortals leagued against him, he was certain he would win.
The man with the trident and the woman with the meteor hammers didn't lose their composure. Cao Yun could tell they had been in other life-or-death battles. And they had seen their friends die in front of them already. Even if they had just witnessed their brother and their lover die, they had not lost their calm, for they knew that it would mean death as well. Unfortunately, despite knowing each other's moves very well, they were not the best coordinated. Besides, their weapons did not complement each other as well. Still, the woman could stay in the back with her meteor hammers while the man tried to force Cao Yun to keep his distance with his trident.
After witnessing his ability to conceal his presence, they couldn't lose him for even an instant. At all times, they kept their eyes on him. Like that, even if they couldn't feel his presence, they could see him. If he had fully mastered Huang Liyue's stealth technique, that wouldn't even have been true. Unfortunately, he hadn't yet. Right now, he could use 'Ashen Feather Seal' to make himself difficult to notice, but this wouldn't work against someone actively looking at him, especially not in the middle of a fight.
'Frozen Caves and Burning Mountains'!
As the man struck the ground with his foot, it shook. He stabbed his trident toward Cao Yun. Under him, he could feel running water just as the air around him became hotter and hotter. In fact, the trident literally caught on fire as it was about to pierce Cao Yun's chest. All of a sudden, its speed increased and Cao Yun could feel tremors from underground as well.
'The Dragon's Body Hits the Earth'!
Before the trident could reach him though, Cao Yun used the butt of his spear to strike it down. Immediately after that, he moved just as a column of ice emerged from the ground almost stabbing through him. As soon as he moved, a giant boulder almost looking like the peak of a true mountain went straight for his head. At the very least, those bandits had a great sense of fighting, they could read Cao Yun's moves very well. However, he could also see through them easily. They were used to fighting demonic beasts, not martial art experts.
'Cracking the World'!
Cao Yun's spear collided with the meteor hammer and it exploded in the air. Still, the chains coiled itself around his weapon and the woman tried to take it away. Even though she was a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior, Cao Yun was way stronger than she was. Of course, he wasn't on the level of Ren Chao, but still, he was strong enough to contend with an early Spirit Warrior. That woman had no chance to begin with. Instead of losing his weapon, Cao Yun took hers. With a powerful movement, he brought the woman close to him as she wouldn't let go of her weapon.
The poor fighter literally flew in the air toward Cao Yun. On the ground, the man was able to control his weapon just in time to see Cao Yun's right arm go through the woman's chest. As he had pierced her, he sent his Wei Qi in all her meridians. Blood erupted from everywhere as even some of her large muscles exploded. Even at that moment, even as despair was taking a hold of him, even as he knew he had no chance and was going to die, the last bandit kept his calm. If there was any tiny chance he could survive, it wasn't by panicking.
Unfortunately, there was no chance at all for him. He had made his decision like the others and he would have to die for it. Still covered in blood, Cao Yun unleashed one last attack with all of his strength.
'The Pillar Piercing the Sky'!
On the other hand, the trident of the last man standing went to meet 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar'. Unlike the bandit, Cao Yun was able to use Spear Aura and it truly looked like the trident was going straight toward a giant obsidian pillar entirely covered in fresh blood. His weapon was swept away but the man used all of his strength to try and control its direction anyway. However, it was useless as Cao Yun's spear went through it. The weapon was completely torn apart. Then, the last bandit's head exploded and his body fell heavily on the ground.
The fight was over. Cao Yun had just killed five middle Mortal Warriors with almost no injury. He had still a couple of arrows sticking out of him though. They had been broken during the fight, but they were still in his flesh. Without any hesitation, he took them out and his blood cultivation took care of the wounds.
Looking at the corpses, Cao Yun sighed. They could have chosen another path and survived. But he would not show any mercy to someone who wanted to kill him. That was a serious mistake he would not make anymore. Even if they were weaker than him now, he had no idea how strong they could become or who could be behind them. Of course, he had checked and they were not demonic cultivators, just regular bandits. That was sad to see orthodox cultivators attack other humans while so many crises were going on.
As he looked at their corpses, Cao Yun had an awful idea he pushed aside. For an instant, he thought about taking their souls. After all he was working on 'Death Verses' so they could have been useful. And they could also have been fuel for his Black Heart Flame. However, Cao Yun was not a demonic cultivator. He would not use humans as resources. Even if those hunters had turned bandits, he would not torture their souls, killing them was good enough. Besides, he had no real enmity toward them. He had simply killed them to protect his life and Jie Yuan's life.
That being said, Cao Yun was interested in observing the way their souls would act upon death. As such, he used 'See Through the Mud' from 'Death Verses'. Although it was meant to feel Death Energy, it also allowed to perceive Po as well as a tinge of Hun. In addition, Cao Yun used his meager spiritual senses with the Flying Poison who left his body. For now, it couldn't stray too far from Cao Yun, but it might help him discern more things.
As he watched, he felt different energies leave their bodies. One was almost certainly their Hun as he could feel three contrasting shapes in it. Moreover, it was the most elusive part of their soul, he could barely make out what it was. Suddenly, it dissipated in the air, just like that. According to their beliefs, humans were convinced that this Hun was the part of the soul that would reincarnate. It was supposed to go to the Heavenly Court while they awaited their next life.
On the other hand, the Po, the corporeal soul, was the soul that formed the body, maintained it, and then killed it. Thus, it was closely related to Jing and resided in several key organs. The origin of this soul was thought to be from the parents. Then the interactions between the corporeal soul and the ethereal soul would shape the individual. In fact, one's mind was the perpetual discussion between the ten souls, the seven Po and the three Hun. While the seven Po were focused on staying alive and on worldly desires, the three Hun were turned toward more glorious aspirations. However, all ten of them were necessary to life.
If the Hun took over, one would simply lose interest in the physical world and their body would slowly wither as they would even frown upon eating. On the other hand, if the Po took over, one would only be interested in physical pleasures and they would waste their life, burning even their own vitality to enjoy more pleasures. Some observed that the corporeal soul was divided into seven parts while the ethereal soul only had three. From that, some though that it showed that illumination was difficult to attain. Others simply believed that it demonstrated how difficult life was. Staying alive required so much strength that three souls would not have been enough.
As he watched the ethereal soul disappear, Cao Yun saw no great secret. Although he believed in reincarnation too, he had not been able to witness anything to prove it yet apart from the disappearance of those souls. But he quickly turned toward their mangled bodies. Indeed, he was most interested in observing the last moments of their Po. The corporeal soul was supposed to help the death of the physical body before returning to the ground. For several hours, Cao Yun meditated while surrounded by the corpses.
Jie Yuan had just witnessed the most brutal fight of his entire life. And now the god of war he had witnessed was simply sitting cross-legged amid the carnage. The poor man didn't know what Cao Yun was doing but he decided not to interrupt him. All around the place, he could feel the gazes of some demonic beasts who were lusting for the corpses. However, they were too terrified of Cao Yun's presence to get closer.
Finally, Cao Yun stood up. He had observed how the Po had acted within their bodies. As such, his understanding of that corporeal soul had improved a bit. In fact, he had felt some tiny parts of their Po start to turn into Death Energy. Thankfully though, it had quickly been destroyed. Although their deaths had been brutal, they had been quick and almost no Evil Qi was formed. The small quantities of Evil Qi and Death Energy would be naturally dissolved by the environment.
By watching this process, Cao Yun had understood 'Living Death' a bit more. He still wasn't ready to work with it with his own soul, but he could see how one's Po could turn to Death Energy. The opposite seemed much more complicated. After all, Cao Yun was trying to perceive a Dao, the Dao of Death. Despite all his cultivation methods and his Drop of Wrath, this wasn't something accessible to a Mortal Warrior. Only a Sage could see through minor Daos.
Anyway, as long as he could read more of 'Death Verses', it would also help him decipher the Antique Sixian faster. For that, he had to be able to read the Insight Writings so he could have more context to then read the Antique Sixian characters around.
Finally, he was done and stood up. Sensing the demonic beasts all around, Cao Yun used his spatial ring and took all the corpses into it. No living being could be stored into it as they would die instantly, but dead bodies were not a problem at all. Jie Yuan was quite surprised. If Cao Yun had stolen from their bodies, he would have understood, but he literally stole their very bodies.
"Did you know them?"