Chapter 484: Breaching space

"Then we are set. Absorb as much blood as you can. And from this blood, extract the fragments of Mo Wang's soul. I'll help you with his ghost, but I'm not too confident in my ability to do anything. Hopefully your Flying Poison will be enough to break his will. With your Drop of Wrath, you could certainly destroy him completely. But we need to conserve him as intact as possible while funneling his last emotions into our plan. We can't have him form a grudge against you before we open some rift in space. As soon as you have collected enough blood and ghost, I'll tell you exactly what to do. By using both your master's runes and blood runes made out of Mo Wang's blood, we should be able to open a way out. Do not hesitate at all. No matter what happens, you have to go through any opening that appears. We won't get a second chance!"

"I understand. And I'm as ready as I will get."

Cao Yun first used his understanding of the Dao of Death to 'See Through the Mud'. All around the Dao Runes of his master, there was a sphere of blackened blood. That blood was so thick that it felt as though it was almost solid, but it had not coagulated yet. In that blood, Cao Yun could feel the corrupted Po of Mo Wang. Everywhere in that blood, there was a rage and a burning desire for retribution. In the past, Mo Wang had been betrayed by Emperor Weide. And when he was about to get his revenge, he was betrayed by his own demonic arts. Before dying, Mo Wang had heard that traitor tell him that he was being manipulated. The only other name that came to his mind was Empyrean Asura. But somehow, Mo Wang didn't believe he was behind it.

Maybe he had been manipulated since the day he had found Demon God Da Mo's secret library? After all, this was where he had found the 'Blood Runes' method that had seemingly betrayed him. Within his blood, some of his blood runes got activated by something else and turned him into a doorway to somewhere else. It would have been logical to accuse the Empyrean Asura's attempt to create a bridge between his territory and the Imperial Palace. By cutting off the head of the Hongchen Kingdom, it would be thrown into disarray and would help his invasion of the land and eradication of all humans. However, Mo Wang didn't think it was so.

Indeed, he didn't believe even Empyrean Asura could do such a thing. After all, he was on the same level as him or Emperor Weide. Even if they all combined their strength with Sect Leader Xuan and even Matriarch Huang, they would not be able to open such a doorway. Yes it had failed, but because of Cao Yun's intervention. Otherwise, it would have worked. Even if Empyrean Asura was behind it, Mo Wang was absolutely certain that someone else had helped him.

In his last moments, Mo Wang had desired to slaughter all his enemies, Emperor Weide and whoever had stabbed him in the back. The opening of the rift had consumed his blood, his flesh and even his Soul Embryo. He had completely died. Right now, only his blood and fragments of his soul turned into some ghost had survived. However, his deep-seated hatred had endured. And this was Cao Yun's ticket out of this place, if he could control it well enough.

'Death Reeling' was the second verse of 'Death Verses'. Through it, Cao Yun was able to control Death Energy as well as he controlled Qi. Circulating his full mind cultivation, Cao Yun poured most of his vitality into his Upper Dantian. In his sea of consciousness, his Nine Soul Peaks were now vibrant. The green vines of the world tree were full of vigor and some golden markings were shining. Those peaks felt as though they were being bathed in the light of the sun in the morning. There was even some mist and dew around them. Such a sight was bewitching. Deep within one of the peaks, the Flying Poison was getting rattled.

Cao Yun was using the chains holding it down to control it. Since he controlled the Drop of Wrath, there was no problem issuing orders to the Flying Poison. It had become quite docile and had given Cao Yun the ability to use spiritual senses. The second verse of 'Death Verses' appeared and poured into the head of Flying Poison. On the outside, Cao Yun was expanding his spiritual senses as far as they could get. Before long, he was connected to the Dao Runes of his master. Since his master's very soul had been used to create the Spirit Condensation Barrier, it recognized Cao Yun's touch.

Weakening a little, the Dao Runes allowed Mo Wang's blood to enter the ball of blazing air Cao Yun was in. Thick black blood spiraled in the air and went straight for Cao Yun. Opening his Five Prodigious Gates to the maximum, Cao Yun sucked in that blood in his own body. In Cao Yun's veins, as a 1st-grade Golden Blood Child, he had mercury now. The property of the Drop of Wrath was everywhere in his bloodstream, although it stayed stronger in his Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, right in the center of his heart. As soon as Mo Wang's blood entered his bloodstream, it tried to assault him but the Drop of Wrath was way above what even Mo Wang could achieve in life, let alone in death.

Besides, Cao Yun seemed to be absolutely immune to the Death Energy spreading with the black blood. After all, he was using a corrupted Po as spiritual senses and was mobilizing parts of the 'Death Verses'. As Death Energy was going directly into his heart, the Black Heart Flame there was becoming agitated. There was no doubt in Cao Yun's mind that it wanted to devour this Death Energy, so did his Drop of Wrath. Thankfully, Cao Yun had control over those two. He couldn't devour Mo Wang's ghost because he needed it to open a breach in space.

In Cao Yun's sea of consciousness, Mo Wang's ghost was starting to form itself. There were dark clouds forming on the surface of the clean water. Here and there, the ocean below also turned into some kind of putrid swamp. There was nothing pleasant about it. After all, this ghost was full of resentment and hatred. But this was what Cao Yun needed. From everywhere at once, a callous voice echoed in the young man's mind.

"Brat, I thank your stupidity for allowing me in. Maybe I won't torture you for too long..."

As the rattling voice began to cackle, Flying Poison leapt from the peak it was chained to. Without any hesitation, it went after the biggest cloud and sank its claws into it. From its throat, chants from the 'Death Verses' echoed around it. As they spread, Cao Yun was slowly controlling the Death Energy. At the same moment, he was controlling the black blood in his veins. More and more blood was pouring into him.

During the process, Dian Mo was just observing, waiting for the right moment. They had to have enough energy to breach space. But at the same time, if the blood around them was completely sucked into Cao Yun's body, space would immediately collapse on them. Sect Leader Xuan's Dao Runes would not resist very long. They had already endured several days, which was quite impressive indeed. There was no doubt that he had used more of his soul than Xiao Xuefeng had when she had created her own Spirit Condensation Barrier. But to be fair, he was closer to his death so he didn't mind weakening his soul more than a very young alchemy prodigy.

"You think you can control me?! You think you can enslave me like that bastard?!"

"Now!"

Both Cao Yun and Dian Mo completely ignored Mo Wang's voice. The young man had enough blood to proceed forward.

"Form the blood runes I described. Then set up the Dao Runes as they should be. As soon as you're done, we'll have to use most of that Death Energy to put things in motion."

"You think I'll allow such an insult?! Do you know who I am?!"

As Mo Wang's remains were getting worked up, Cao Yun felt that he was trying to attack from within. From the swamps formed in his sea of consciousness, bats emerged and went straight for Cao Yun's Five Agents. Shen the Fire Spirit ignited and flames engulfed Cao Yun's Five Agents and Nine Soul Peaks. At the same time, Flying Poison's chains were flailing in the air to take down those strange bats.

"Boy, forget about his attacks for now. Only focus on your task. I'll take him on!"

Dian Mo's palace form emerged from the Nine Soul Peaks. Many dark clouds were sucked in his darkness. Then, he forced more and more of those bats into his shape. Within the Demon Palace, Dian Mo was battling against Mo Wang's last shreds of will. On the other hand, Cao Yun was manipulating the Death Energy and his blood to form the Blood Runes Dian Mo had described to him. Some were very close to the Dao Runes he could see around him.

Because Cao Yun didn't have a great understanding of the Dao of Space, reproducing those Blood Runes was very difficult. Hopefully, their quality would be balanced out by Sect Leader Xuan's Dao Runes. Within himself, Cao Yun could sense that Mo Wang's will was resisting. It had endured much more than both Cao Yun and Dian Mo thought possible. While he was focused on his task, Cao Yun failed to perceive cracks in Dian Mo's form. The Demon Palace could barely contend with Mo Wang's last will.

"Boy, come on!"

"I'm almost ready. Endure it a bit longer."

By using the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun was convinced he could annihilate Mo Wang's will, but that wasn't their goal. They had to use it in order to escape and they couldn't know beforehand how much of it they would need. Although Mo Wang was attacking them, his hatred was directed toward Emperor Weide and the one who had betrayed him, whoever he was. Cao Yun and Dian Mo were just nuisances in his mind. That was what they were hoping for.

"I'm ready!"

As soon as Cao Yun shouted that, several black Blood Runes emerged from his body. They went straight for the golden Dao Runes. Then, Cao Yun focused a huge part of his mind and soul - everything he had left really - into the Dao Runes. The familiarity between him and his master's soul allowed the young man to control them with more ease. However, he was still only a Mortal Warrior, thus he had to use Flying Poison to the limit just for that. Controlling Dao Runes could not be done with Qi alone, one had to use their very soul. Since he wasn't a Spirit Warrior, only his Flying Poison could achieve that result.

Modifying the formation of the Spirit Condensation Barrier was extremely hard. All of Cao Yun's mind was focused on that while Dian Mo was still entangled with Mo Wang's will. Around the young man, space was collapsing now that most of the blood had been absorbed by him. The black Blood Runes pushed this nothingness away a little. Such a view was impossible to describe and even impossible to comprehend. There was no space and no time around Cao Yun. He was lost in nothing and only the Dao Runes and that blood were forming a bubble of space and time around him.

As Cao Yun was sending all those runes in a specific direction, he could feel space disappearing around him. Seeing it with human eyes was impossible. Even the light from his master's golden characters was not able to go outward. After all, there was no space to move into. But his spiritual senses were able to sense it. With his small understanding of the Dao of Space, he was able to interpret those feelings. If only he had been a Sage, or at the very least a Spirit Warrior, he might have been able to understand something about the Dao of Space there. Since he couldn't, he still decided to commit everything to memory. Although he was only sensing a tiny bit of what was going on around him, he engraved it in his mind for later.

Following Dian Mo's direction, Cao Yun had found a possible way out of this bleeding space. But Dian Mo could not talk any longer. He was fully engrossed in his own battle. As Cao Yun was pushing the runes forward, the Demon Palace was covered in cracks. At last, Cao Yun used his Flying Poison and his 'Death Verses' to channel all the Death Energy from Mo Wang's ghost into specific runes.

Suddenly they burned away and created some kind of chain reaction. Thanks to Dian Mo's advice, Cao Yun had been able to pierce through space. There was some kind of slit in front of him. Pushing his will and his soul to the limit, he tried to go in that reaction. Thankfully, the remnants of Sect Leader Xuan's soul helped him and pushed him in that direction by altering space around him. Since Cao Yun couldn't fly, this was the only way for him to move around. Real space outside was causing some kind of suction, pulling Cao Yun in.

When he collided with the slit, he felt powerful vibrations all over his body. Without his Spirit Condensation Barrier, Cao Yun would have been crushed once more. But as a consequence, the Dao Runes were almost depleted. Hopefully, he would emerge out of this hellish place before it could happen. Otherwise, Cao Yun was absolutely certain that he would utterly die. Even his soul would not remain. And no matter what, he could not die! Not after what he had learned! Not before saving his sister and torturing Emperor Weide to death!

In his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo was locked in battle with Mo Wang. As much as Cao Yun was channeling his Death Energy, some part of his will tried to resist. It knew that it was going to be used once more and couldn't accept it. Thus, it clung on to Dian Mo's palace, worsening the damage while getting weaker itself. But it was difficult to know who would succumb first.

Before the Spirit Condensation Barrier could give out, Cao Yun finally saw some natural light once more. However, he seemed to have fled one hell to find another...