Chapter 478: Seeing beyond the veil

As vibrant colors were still undulating in the sky, the Spirit Warriors were waging a gigantic war. The Imperial City below was torn apart by their fight. Even if the 1st Imperial Brocade Guards, Hua Fenfei, Xiao Xuefeng and Huang Liyue were trying to take the fight higher and higher, the demonic cultivators wanted to cause as much damage as they could. Unfortunately, many people were going to die. The guards on the ground were also fighting the invaders while trying to get as many people as they could to safety, or even out of the Imperial City.

From the surrounding cities, reinforcements had been called but they would all come too late. A life-or-death fight between late Spirit Warriors was just too violent.

Within the 'Domain of the Three Confluences', Demon King Mo Wang was using all of his blood and all of his cultivation. His bat wings were now covered in red veins, the space around him was also filled with a strange bloody hue. All around him, red cracks had appeared in the very Domain of Emperor Weide. After all, this wasn't a true Domain. In a Sage's Domain, a Spirit Warrior would have been powerless to fight back. In that situation, Demon King Mo Wang would have been forced to try to escape. Fortunately for him though, this was only a pseudo-Domain.

Dian Mo had been absolutely right in his analysis. When Emperor Weide had sent his 5th Imperial Brocade Guards to Baziyun City, he had meant to capture Cao Shui. His goal had always been to restrain her and force her to cultivate through pills and other means until she finally developed a Soul Embryo. Then, he would have extracted and refined it in order to become a Sage. Since he had around five hundred years left to live considering his current cultivation, he had to become a Sage as fast as possible. Indeed, during the Sage and Monarch realms, one's lifespan would not be prolonged, or only marginally by purifying one's prenatal Jing.

Moreover, those two realms could take hundreds of years to go through. In fact, five hundred years would probably not be enough, especially when taking into account Emperor Weide's age and his current state. The sneak attack launched by Demon King Mo Wang on him had taken a huge toll on his health after all. But if he could break through the Sage realm, the Monarch realm and finally enter the Immortal realm, then his lifespan would skyrocket. A late Immortal could leave for dozens of millenniums. From there, he might even reach the higher realms and ascend like Emperor Nuwa.

Unfortunately, Cao Shui had died during the attack. But thankfully, his men had had the presence of mind to catch her soul just before it could leave her body and dissipate. Emperor Weide had preserved it with various means he had obtained thanks to the terrible experiments led by Mo Wang and his demonic cultivators. As Dian Mo had figured out, the torments had caused Cao Shui's mind to break apart. Now the soul was completely blank. Even her memories had been purged. After treating it and refining it completely, Emperor Weide had incorporated this soul in his own sea of consciousness. Now, he could use it not just as spiritual senses, but as a pseudo-Domain. It wasn't exactly a Domain because it wasn't Emperor Weide's sea of consciousness and because it was completely blank.

'Domain of the Three Confluences' was the name of Emperor Nuwa's Domain. But what Emperor Weide was using was just the simplest of Domains. There was no quality or property to it. It was just putting a lot of pressure on anyone else within it. As such, Demon King Mo Wang had a real chance of breaking free if he exerted enough strength. But then, he would be too weak to fight Emperor Weide. Around him, he could see that his forces were being overwhelmed. It wasn't one-sided but he could tell where the flow of the battle was going.

Apart from the late Spirit Warriors fighting, there were still many other weaker demonic cultivators all over the place. Since Emperor Weide's Domain was so weak compared to the real deal, Demon King Mo was still connected to his forces outside. He could feel the seals he had put within his own soldiers. And he could activate them if he so desired. As it happened to be, he did desire it.

Dozens of Mortal Warriors and a handful of early Spirit Warriors just stopped moving. A few of them were killed in an instant because of this pause. However, it didn't matter at all. Their bodies began to convulse, their skin turned completely red. Finally, they exploded into mist of blood. The blood coalesced into runes that flew toward Demon King Mo Wang. With incredible speed they pierced through the surface layer of Emperor Weide's Domain.

Obviously, Emperor Weide wasn't going to let his enemy do as he pleased without reacting. Above him, three golden runes appeared as well. They flew directly toward Demon King Mo Wang. Within the Domain, he was weakened. But he realized something as well. Emperor Weide wasn't coming for him directly, he was sending attacks at him but he had never moved once from his spot. Many possibilities were emerging in Demon King Mo Wang. On the ground, Cao Yun was running toward the Everlasting Earth Palace but he was still paying attention to the fight above. It was in order to adapt to the circumstances but also to get as much information on Emperor Weide as possible. One day, he would have to fight and kill Humanity's Traitor.

The blood runes and the golden characters collided with one another and exploded with sonic booms high in the sky. The shockwave caused by those collisions pushed back Demon King Mo Wang but not Emperor Weide. Thankfully, his Domain was still sturdy enough that those shockwaves didn't reach the Everlasting Earth Palace below. However, Emperor Weide coughed up some blood. Demon King Mo Wang was still being suppressed but maintaining this pseudo-Domain wasn't easy for Emperor Weide. He had to finish this fight now.

Another golden character appeared, 'Subjugation'. His entire Domain got filled with the golden rays emanating from this character. Just by looking at it, Demon King Mo Wang felt as though he had to kowtow and offer his neck. The suppression of the Domain became more and more intense. By that time, Mo Wang couldn't even move and he was feeling that he was losing control of his body. As a last resort, he took the blood runes in his own body and stimulated his very soul with some of them. At the same time, he was burning his very blood essence in order to get stronger.

The strokes of the golden character started to move around. It turned into a giant golden sword. On the ground, Cao Yun realized what it was because his spear Insight Writings were reacting to it. This was Sword Spirit. After Sword Aura was Sword Intent. After Sword Intent was Sword Heart. And the next stage after Sword Heart was Sword Spirit. Even Emperor Weide was not too deep into this Sword Spirit state, but the mere fact that he had reached it was incredible. The Insight Writings he had developed around the way of the sword had now turned into a form of Spirit weapon.

As soon as it was ready, his golden 'Subjugation' sword sliced toward Demon King Mo Wang. Even he could tell that this weapon was enough to kill him. Outside of the Domain, he might have had a chance of surviving but not within. The Domain was amplifying the suppressing power of the sword. When the attack came, Demon King Mo Wang burned a huge part of his blood essence so he could recover the control of his body through brute force. His right wings closed on him. At the very moment the golden sword fell on his wings, he opened up again to deviate the sword.

It worked, but his right wings were completely cut through. This time, he was the one who was bleeding, quite a lot at that. But he was free from the suppression, more or less. And Emperor Weide had sent his weapon away. He wasn't powerless by any stretch of the imagination, but he probably couldn't muster a powerful attack right away. Thus, Demon King Mo Wang flew away toward him. From the blood flowing from his shattered wings, several blood runes appeared. Some began to spin around Demon King Mo Wang while others were going straight for Emperor Weide.

Behind Demon King Mo Wang however, the golden sword was coming back for another attack. And it was a bit faster than he was. Feeling it, he knew that this Domain would prevent him from reaching Emperor Weide. Just when he had tried to exit, space itself was expanding. The faster he felt he was going, the longer space was stretched. And apparently it didn't work just at the borders of the Domain, but also at its center. This was maybe the reason why Emperor Weide wasn't moving around. Demon King Mo and Cao Yun down below were both wondering whether the effect of the Domain on space was also affecting Emperor Weide himself. But it wasn't affecting the golden runes, nor the blood runes. Most likely, only physical objects, or maybe objects with a specific mass would be subject to that alteration of space.

Then, Demon King Mo Wang changed its strategy. He stopped moving toward Emperor Weide to focus on evading the golden sword. However, he sent his blood runes. As they hurtled toward Emperor Weide, space was covered in bloody traces. Slowly, Emperor Weide's Domain was covered in bloody cracks. Down below, Cao Yun was feeling it in his soul. Up in the sky, he could see the soul of his own mother being used as a weapon. And it was now covered in cracks as bloody wounds on her soul. Even if her mind and memories had been wiped clean, this was still incredibly painful for Cao Yun to watch. It was like seeing her corpse behind defiled, cut into pieces in front of him.

Besides, he now knew that his mother was completely gone. Since he believed in reincarnation like many others in the Hongchen Kingdom, what had happened to her soul meant that she would never reincarnate again. Her soul was just a tool used by Emperor Weide now. No matter what, he had to break her free from his control. But he was still too weak for that.

Just as the fight was reaching its climax, Cao Yun reached the Everlasting Earth Palace. A fight between 9th-grade Spirit Warriors was incredibly violent but also fast beyond belief. As Cao Yun was moving toward his destination, the blood runes and the golden sword had exchanged thousands of moves all over the bloodied Domain. After this fight, Emperor Weide would need a lot of time to repair his pseudo-Domain. However, he might also gain a lot of insights into this pseudo-Domain as well. Clearly, he would grow stronger if he survived. Strangely though, Cao Yun was hoping for Emperor Weide to survive. if he was weakened enough, he might even have a shot at killing him. Maybe it wouldn't be straight away, but the weaker he was after this fight, the sooner Cao Yun would be able to take off his head.

At last, he had reached the entrance of the Everlasting Earth Palace. Unfortunately, he couldn't feel Yong Ke's presence within. Most likely, she was protected by many layers of array formations as Emperor Weide's daughter. Besides, she also had her clothes and her weimao. Finding her wouldn't be easy at all. At least, that was what Cao Yun thought. Thankfully, reality proved him wrong right away.

Before he could enter the outer courtyard, he saw a woman wearing a weimao and clothes completely concealing her Wei Qi and everything about her. However, it wasn't as effective as his 'Ashen Feather Seal'. Indeed, Cao Yun could still see her while she couldn't notice him even though he was right in her field of vision. Taking a deep breath, Cao Yun let go of his stealth. This was a risky move of course, but he wanted to speak with Yong Ke as soon as possible. Surprised, Yong Ke saw the young man appear in front of her. It was as though he had always been there but she simply didn't notice him. This was a strange sensation, like looking for something everywhere and suddenly realizing it was right in front of her all this time, as though her mind had blocked it.

"Chen Guo?"

"Princess Yong Ke!"

She immediately rushed toward Cao Yun without taking any precaution. Cao Yun could feel that she fully trusted him. And a feeling deep in his blood was telling him he could fully trust her as well. After seeing what Emperor Weide had done to his mother's soul, Cao Yun was truly terrified or learning the truth. In his mind, there were only two options. Emperor Weide had maybe used the souls of other members of his family. Or this was something else entirely. She claimed that she didn't remember anything before the attack that had happened a few decades earlier. But if she didn't remember, she had to trust Emperor Weide when it came to the timetable. Of course, Cao Yun didn't trust a single word coming out of Emperor Weide, Humanity's Traitor. Demonic cultivators had called him the Traitor and Cao Yun was agreeing with them for once.

"I know that I should stay inside, but I can't ignore our people. That may not be much, but together we could save more people. Please help me!"

Although he couldn't recognize her voice, Cao Yun wanted to believe that he was right. He couldn't hear anything but his heart beating in his temples. Even his rage toward Emperor Weide had subsided. His mind was almost entirely blank despite the chaos within. There was only one thing in it, a face and a body. To be more precise, Cao Yun was seeing pieces of a body, the entire thing had never been found. Although he had recognized her hand back then, this could have been faked...

With a shaking hand, he extended his arm toward her veil. She didn't understand what was going on but somehow, Yong Ke decided not to stop Cao Yun when he took her veil off.