Chapter 487: Igniting one's kidneys
Still buried underground, Cao Yun had finally some time to breathe. Although the air within his sand cave was limited, he could simply dig upward from time to time to allow more air inside. Of course, Cao Yun wanted to leave as soon as possible. He wanted to know where he was and he wanted to get back to the Hongchen Kingdom as soon as he could. But before all of that, he had to make sure that Hongyu was fine. And he also had to take care of Dian Mo.
Diving into his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun saw the Demon Palace in ruins. It looked as though it was a relic of the distant past tormented by time. Despite all of the damage, the palace itself was still standing. Here and there, there were holes in the roof. Thankfully, Cao Yun could still feel that Dian Mo was present in there. However, he could also feel another presence. Since he had absorbed Demon King Mo Wang's blood as well as the remnants of his soul, Cao Yun could recognize his presence.
Indeed, Demon King Mo Wang's fragmentary soul was entangled with Dian Mo's spirit. Thanks to his practice of 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks', Cao Yun was familiar enough with souls to see through it. The third layer, 'Subdue the Seven Demons', literally consisted in separating the seven Po from one another. As such, he could vaguely feel the different threads of their souls in the palace. The Demon Palace itself was just a physical representation of Dian Mo's spirit. And the damage showed how weak he had become.
Against the last will of a powerful 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, even Dian Mo had not been strong enough. Although he was an expert in array formations and had a strong mind, he was no cultivator. Spirits like him could not cultivate at all. That was the reason why he had tried to take over Cao Yun's body in the first place. Not only could he have left the Palace of Supreme Wisdom, he could also have started to cultivate thanks to his body.
For a long time, Cao Yun tried to communicate with Dian Mo but he couldn't answer him. However, the young man was able to feel that he was still there. Mo Wang's soul was incredibly weak but it was also there. Getting rid of the last fragments of his soul would be extremely difficult without damaging Dian Mo's spirit even more. Thankfully, it seemed like Dian Mo had won the fight, but the price had been very high. For the time being, he needed to rest. Because he truly needed his help, Cao Yun tried to speed up his recovery by using his own strength.
From his Nine Soul Peaks, the vines of the world tree caught the Demon Palace. Cao Yun's Shen the Fire Spirit also sent flames along those vines toward the palace in ruins. With his current understanding of the soul and the mind, Cao Yun couldn't do much more unfortunately. But he also turned to his blood cultivation and extracted a tiny droplet of his Drop of Wrath to send it into the Demon Palace. After all, he had full control over the Drop of Wrath now. At any moment, he could retrieve it but it was very small anyway and he wouldn't miss it at all.
Speaking about his blood cultivation, Cao Yun had absorbed Demon King Mo Wang's blood and blood runes in the bleeding space. The shock of leaving that bleeding space as well as the sand whipping him for quite some time had pushed his blood cultivation further ahead. In fact, he only needed a small push to break through. In his kidney, he had a small golden pellet called the Golden Fate as it was a manifestation of one's prenatal Jing, one's essence and thus one's fate.
In 'Crimson Inferno Road', the manual he had obtained from Dian Mo, there was a technique he could use. To be honest, he had refused to use this technique before because it was clearly a technique belonging to the demonic path. Indeed, this technique was known as 'Fate Devouring Gate'. In order to practice it, one required the blood essence of a much stronger cultivator. Hence, it was very rare for one to be able to use it. Although this blood could also be replaced with the blood of a demonic beast, the results would be inferior.
In his last moments, Demon King Mo Wang had tried to burn his blood essence in order to resist the blood runes who had killed him. However, some of his blood essence had endured and had even been absorbed by Cao Yun himself along with some of his blood runes. With this blood, Cao Yun should be able to extract some of Mo Wang's prenatal Jing in order to nurture his Golden Fate. Besides, he could also use other methods.
Indeed, 'Fate Devouring Gate' seemed quite similar to 'Stoking the Human Flames' from 'Storms in the Crimson Furnace'. Following this technique, one could use his Fire Qi in order to enhance the Jing in his blood essence. Maybe Cao Yun could use a similar method in order to enhance both Mo Wang's Jing and his own. Like that, he might be able to break through by forming the complete Golden Fate in his kidneys.
First of all, Cao Yun imagined that his kidneys were one giant golden palace. The right kidney was where his Golden Fate was, it was a golden pellet stored within that palace. And the door to that palace was in his back, right along his Governing Vessel, the Du Mai. It was an acupoint located right behind his Lower Dantian called the Mingmen. Since Cao Yun had already learned to control all his acupoints, focusing on it was extremely easy. Once more, practicing several cultivation methods was very useful.
Although it could slow him down sometimes, his different cultivation methods were allowing him to advance faster in the long run. Because he could control his Qi and his acupoints without any problem, his blood cultivation was smoother. And by advancing his blood cultivation, it would be easier for him to strengthen his body and advance in his Qi cultivation. Indeed, after accumulating enough Fire Qi in his Middle Dantian, he would need to strengthen and temper his meridians and vessels. They had to be sturdy enough for him to attempt the Lesser Tribulation. Even accumulating Fire Qi would be made easier by his blood cultivation.
The more he was advancing, the more he realized why the Three Jade Saints were thought to be so powerful. According to Dian Mo's legends, they were the perfect beings that had caused even the Heavens to be jealous to the point where they were destroyed. Right now, Cao Yun had no real soul cultivation system, he simply had the 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks' manual. Yet, he could already see great results. Just with the cultivation systems of humans and asura, Cao Yun's cultivation was already much more stable, fast and powerful than others. But even if he had the soul cultivation system of the deva, he would need a soul that could practice it. Anyway, he would not find it on the Piaolu planet. In fact, Cao Yun had never heard about deva before speaking with Dian Mo.
Keeping his mind perfectly focused on his Mingmen, Cao Yun began to feel a warm sensation in his lower back. Then, it spread to his kidneys. At the same time, his Lower Dantian became extremely hot. Since demons had no Dantian, this was not described in 'Crimson Inferno Road'. But Cao Yun could feel that his own prenatal Jing was being activated by this heat. In his golden palace, the Golden Fate was turning a bit liquid as though the gold was being molted. As the temperature was rising, Cao Yun sent all of Mo Wang's blood and blood runes into his Middle Dantian.
Using his own body as a furnace and his Middle Dantian as a cauldron, Cao Yun was burning Mo Wang's blood runes. Following the principles of 'Stoking the Human Flames' as well as his understanding of alchemy, this was rather easy. The Runes of Fire also acted up and Cao Yun even decided to use his Black Heart Flame.
As soon as Mo Wang's essence was distilled through fire, he sent it all in his golden palace to merge with his Golden Fate. In the end, Demon King Mo Wang's blood essence really wasn't much. Thankfully though, it was very potent, especially after being burned away by Cao Yun's Black Heart Flame. As he was still focusing on his Mingmen, he heard a loud bang echoing in both of his kidneys. Then, a strong sensation of warmth and strength spread throughout his entire body. The Drop of Wrath was shining brightly as Cao Yun was finally breaking through.
His Golden Fate was now a firm stone made out of gold. As of now, he was officially a 2nd-grade Golden Blood Child. There were also some strange carvings in his Golden Fate. For the time being, they didn't make any sense at all. But Cao Yun was convinced that they did mean something. Maybe they were related to something in Mo Wang's blood runes, or something else entirely. Most likely, they were also a form of Insight Writings. However, Cao Yun had no way of reading them at all. And no text was talking about such a thing. That comforted Cao Yun in the idea that Mo Wang's blood runes had caused it.
A 2nd-grade Golden Blood Child needed to fully open his Mingmen in order to produce the first of the Three Bodily Fires, the Kidney Fire. By using this Kidney Fire, a 2nd-grade Golden Blood Child could then further develop his Golden Fate and fill his lower back with the properties of his marrow. This was called 'Life Gate Reveals the Treasure'. But Cao Yun had already opened his Mingmen and tempered it during his Qi cultivation. Thus, he simply had to stoke his Kidney Fire in order to break through. Instead of spending more than a year on this stage, Cao Yun would probably be able to achieve it in a matter of months. Overall, he really wasn't far from forming his Golden Blood.
While he was working on his blood, Cao Yun was still gathering the rich Fire Qi present in the sand all around him. Although he had the remnants of the Frozen Fire pill still in his heart, he wasn't against absorbing Fire Qi from his environment. By cultivating both his Qi and his blood, he would recover much faster while also becoming stronger at the same time. The Frozen Fire pill's medicinal essence was finally almost depleted. Unfortunately, there was not enough of it for him to break through so easily. Becoming a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior was a long process, no matter how much Fire Qi one had at his disposal. Although it would be shorter for Cao Yun compared to other cultivators, it would still take some time.
The Rune of Fire in his Drop of Wrath got excited as the Fire Qi was penetrating through Cao Yun's acupoints. Through his Five Prodigious Gates, the quantity of Fire Qi was impressive. Indeed, there was Fire Qi all around him so it was entering through everywhere all at once. Some of the Fire Qi helped nourish his blood some more. In fact, he even sent some of it directly into his Mingmen to help him refine Demon king Mo Wang's blood essence.
Once the medicinal essence of the Frozen Fire pill was entirely consumed, Cao Yun had filled his Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir. Since he was using 'Drowning One's Heart in Blood', his Fire Qi would now overflow in the other chambers, slowly filling his entire Middle Dantian.
On the other hand, Hongyu's condition was also improving. With Cao Yun so close to her, his own progress was helping her as she was basking in his Wei Qi and the aura of his blood. All over her body, her feathers were slick with her fresh blood as well as some from Demon King Mo Wang. As the blood was seeping through her skin, she instinctively began to absorb it. Since she was used to Cao Yun sharing his own blood with her to help her condition, this blood was easily refined by her body. Considering how potent it was, it would help her a lot. Of course, it was inferior to Cao Yun's blood, but it was the next best thing. Strangely though, no matter how much blood she absorbed, her feathers always looked like they were covered in fresh blood.
At the same time, her feathers seemed to dance as though they were made of living flames. With the air being blurry around her, this created the sensation that her entire body was a breathing fire. Those flames were forming strange patterns all over her as they were blazing with slightly different colors. Apart from those feathers, only her glistening ebony beak and her peacock tail were revealing that she wasn't actually made out of fire. As she was forming her fifth core, her peacock tail was slowly gaining new colors. From its dark complexion, it began to become full of life with very bright colors. Before long, her tail looked just like the rest of her feathers. It seemed to be made out of tongues of fires but with very exotic colors.
Apart from those aesthetic changes, Hongyu's body also began to grow a bit larger. In a few days, she had almost doubled in size. As the medicinal essence and her blood were circulating in her body, her broken wings were also slowly healing. That was very painful but Hongyu was too excited to really care. At the same time, she was thoroughly exhausted. It was very strange as she could feel the excitement coursing through her body but she was emotionally detached from it because of her exhaustion.
While she was slowly becoming a 5-core demonic beast, she could also feel her brother's cultivation improving beside her. Just like him, she seemed to be drawing strength from the sand and the Fire Qi in it. This desert was inhospitable. But at the same time, it was very beneficial to the both of them. Beside her evil core, there was now a solid mass. In that moment, her fifth core was officially formed. She had turned into another demonic beast, a stronger fenghuang with a purer bloodline than a Blood Boiling Fenghuang. Looking at her, Cao Yun was unable to find any mention of her species in any book he had read though.