Chapter 99: The Drop of Wrath

As Cao Yun was unconscious, several rumors spread across the Wubei Sect. Luduo Bu's reputation was pretty terrible, while Cao Yun's was mainly positive. Even the Dragon's Fire Faction eventually got a great opinion of him through their joint work.

However, Chief Elder Bian decided to investigate this case very thoroughly. During several days, he had interrogated Huang Cixi himself. No matter how he tried to ask his questions, her version of the events never changed. But from her own testimony, she had not seen a long part of their fight. Even though it seemed clear that Luduo Bu was the one initiating the attack and that Cao Yun's kill was in full self-defense, it did not innocent him. Maybe he was the one who had used some demonic art nonetheless.

Despite his grudge against Cao Yun for a supposed humiliation he was not responsible at all, Chief Elder Bian was not stupid. When the truth was so obvious, he had to accept it. Besides, he had to wait for Cao Yun to wake up to interrogate him. In fact, as a Spirit Warrior, he could have penetrated his mind. But entering someone's mind was always dangerous for the receiving end. Even with Xiao Xuefeng's mastery, she would not dare do so unless the situation was dire or urgent.

She had done so when she first met Cao Yun but it was against someone who wanted to kill him and was obviously about to die anyway. And of course, the rules of the Wubei Sect only allowed to intrude into someone's mind under very specific and rare conditions.

For now, Chief Elder Bian had ordered for Cao Yun to be placed under house arrest. He ordered two 2nd-grade Mortal Warriors to prevent anyone from entering or leaving his room. They were inner disciples. Chief Elders Baishen and Suxian got so infuriated that he had to lower the harsh restrictions. Finally, his close friends were allowed in but they had to register each time. The tension between the disciplinary pavilion and the three main pavilions, the martial art, the alchemy and the array formation pavilions, was at its highest. The weeks passing, Chief Elder Bian was even forced to lower the guard. In the end, he sent three 7th-grade Mortals who were outer disciples.

-

Somewhere else in the sect, the demonic cultivator wearing black and purple was talking with someone else. The person was not visible even to the man he was speaking with. There was a screen hiding him completely. Just like the person wearing black and purple, his voice seemed to be a mix of several different voices and even his sex was unknown.

"Mo Zi, aren't you glad that I dissuaded you from training the 'Blood Runes' art?"

"Indeed, Master. I was too rash..." Mo Zi lowered his head even further.

"Remember, demonic arts should never be underestimated. The stronger they can make you, the more dangerous they are. However, it's a pity... This Luduo Bu was a very interesting guinea pig. He probably reached the third layer of 'Blood Runes'. What a pity that we couldn't study him."

"Master, with the inner demon festering within him, he probably got taken over once he reached it. We tried to erase all traces of him within Fulao, and there should not be any way to connect him with us. What's more interesting is the fact that all the blood runes seemed to have disappeared from his body."

"You're right. This Chen Guo should have used some secret technique to remove them. It could be a threat to us." The voice stopped an instant. "Xiao Xuefeng should soon realize that her mission is a wild goose chase. We have very little time to take care of him. Either through Lu Meihan or Bian Gui."

"Master. I think that using Lu Meihan would be the best option. Gaining her over would be very profitable to us all. She's not like Luduo Bu at all. I'm pretty sure she could master advanced demonic arts without succumbing to their side effects. Even though she'll be graduating next year, we could convince her to become an inner disciple. With her, we could gain a big influence very fast. After all, her business is already attracting most of the men among the outer disciples. Bian Gui on the other hand is much more unpredictable."

Mo Zi continued on, faced with his master's silence.

"I know that gaining a chief elder would be of great help. But he's really too stubborn. We can manipulate him a bit, playing on his pride. But we'll never be able to turn him."

"I know. But I have other ideas for him. Owning the disciplinary pavilion would allow us to move more freely when we'll need to." The voice stopped again. "Fine. Ask Lu Meihan to put your plan into motion. But make sure that nothing can link her to you in any way. You're valuable to us, but remember that anyone can be replaced. Only our leader's plan is important. If anyone nows you're involved, you'll become a loose end. Make sure that Cao Yun dies. I wanted to explore his mind, but it's safer to just get rid of him. After all, Xiao Xuefeng could probably feel my touch in his mind if I did so."

"Yes, Master." Just when Mo Zi bowed, the presence behind the screen vanished completely.

-

In Cao Yun's room, Huang Cixi was taking care of him. She had been freed after several days of interrogation and was now at his bedside. Despite her deep grudge against him, he had saved her life and it meant something to her. Following the physicians' instructions, she cared for him while he was slowly regaining his strength. As he could not cultivate at all of course, she decided to also help him by massaging his acupoints with the Contrived Shell Balm.

She had asked the physicians if it could have adverse effects. And they even told her the opposite. During the fight he had used great quantities of Qi. He literally had to try and absorb even more Qi than he could normally endure to replenish himself. As such, all his meridians had been put under stress. Even his acupoints had been stressed a lot. This balm was supposed to help the meridians recover while stopping them from shrinking back down. Using it while he was recovering would prevent his progress from diminishing and could even help him increase the tempering of his lesser meridians by a small margin.

-

Even though Cao Yun seemed unconscious, that wasn't exactly true. In fact, his mind was in a state of dream. Even in this very hazy state, his mind cultivation allowed him to stay conscious of what was happening. It was a kind of lucid dream but Cao Yun quickly realized that it didn't come from him.

Time and space were ever changing, but he always looked through the eyes of the same person. More than a dream, he was rather jumping through disordered memories. Around him, the people were not humans. Their skin was crimson red with various lines of gold, silver or other metallic colors. From their eyes, a dim fiery light was visible.

The person whose eyes he was seeing through was only a child, but in the next moment he turned into an adult, and back to his childhood. It was very difficult for Cao Yun to understand what was going on because of all these jumps. But also because none of those people were talking his language. In fact, when he looked in the sky, he saw that the stars were all unknown to him. These memories occurred on another world.

As the days passed, Cao Yun regained a small control over his mind and was finally able to mobilize his mind cultivation. Unfortunately, he was still too weak to cultivate it any further, but the fog around his mind lifted a bit. He tried to enter his sea of consciousness but failed. However, he got lucid enough to be able to piece together what he was experiencing.

The boy he was seeing the memories of was named Axiu Qian. During a great war, both his parents who were very low in the social hierarchy got killed and his country was annexed. He ended up being a slave. After being tortured and 'disciplined', he got sold off to a rich family. They had hundreds of slaves and were known for their cruelty.

Axiu Qian got bought with other boys and girls. The first day, their new owner forced them to fight to the death. Some refused and were flayed alive before the others. This was the first time Axiu Qian ever killed anyone and he threw up. For this show of weakness, he got beaten up some more. Days after days, the children were subjected to the worst possible kind of training. Their owner was forming slaves to serve in the army.

When Axiu Qian was only 12, he was sent to the battlefield. By some miracle rather than his own skill, he survived.

An endless life of pain and misery was awaiting Axiu Qian. The empire he was enslaved to was always waging wars. All those battles forged his body. Before turning 20, he was one of the most powerful warriors of the empire. He was fighting with a kind of trident with a pike at the lower extremity. Slowly he had grown to command hundreds of men on the battlefield. In the end, the emperor himself gave him his freedom back.

Although he was free from his master, he was not free from the empire. As a full-fledged general, his life was endless battles. Until one day, he led a giant rebellion against the empire. Almost all of his men were wiped out but once again fate wanted him to survive.

He fled to a country that was opposing this ever expanding empire. There, he met with a sage who taught him the secrets of cultivation. The memories Cao Yun was seeing were very hazy. He was essentially piecing together what they meant. As such, he only understood that their cultivation system was extremely different from his. In fact, their bodies were also extremely different.

Axiu Qian became extremely proficient in cultivation. In a matter of decades, he got so powerful that he went back to the empire with an elite force. They were able to pierce through the defenses of the capital and killed the emperor as well as all heir to the throne. The empire fell into chaos and several clans battled each other to inherit the throne. While leaving the empire, Axiu Qian walked by the household who had bought him when he was a child.

Remembering what he had suffered, he could not stop himself. After asking his men to leave without him, he went into the household and massacred everyone. In fact, the moment he saw his old master, he lost his mind and only craved blood. No one escaped this fate, even the women, the elderly and the children. This day, he had completely lost all sanity and became a god of slaughter and wrath.

Sadly, the fights never ended. Even with the downfall of the empire, other powers tried to take over and new wars erupted. In the end, Axiu Qian followed the last teachings of his master and ascended. His cultivation got so high that he was able to leave this world for another. Literally ascending into the sky, this world full of blood and carnage became only a small speck of dust lost in the cosmos. This first part of his life had lasted for hundreds of years.

The memories became increasingly more hazy. Then, a final memory popped up into his mind. Axiu Qian had changed beyond recognition. Cao Yun was seeing through six eyes. On both sides of his head, two new faces had appeared, with two new pairs of eyes. With them, he was almost seeing all around him at once.

On the sides, he saw that he had six arms in total. Of course, Cao Yun had already understood but these memories came from the Drop of Wrath. He had known that this drop of blood came from an existence he did not know. Apparently, it was this red skinned man.

Chains made of gold, silver and jade were stabbed into his arms. They then coiled all around him and pierced through every part of his body. Cao Yun followed the chains as they descended from the sky. Towering over him was a man made of pure gold. He had thousands of arms. They were spread all around him and formed a perfect circle. Among these thousands of hands, hundreds of them were holding the chains.

Axiu Qian was fighting the restraints as much as he could but they would not budge at all. His scream was powerful enough to destroy entire planets but this golden god was not impressed in the slightest. The memory was too vague for Cao Yun to understand their words and they spoke a language he did not know anyway. One of the hands formed a jnana mudra* and moved before the golden chest of the god. Gradually, a white lotus with thousands of petals condensed itself over this hand.

Very slowly, the lotus then floated toward Axiu Qian. Just before touching him, it bloomed suddenly and a powerful white light engulfed the red demon. The chains themselves started to burn with a white flame. All of Axiu Qian's body started to be consumed by the flame, but even his mind and his soul started to be affected as well.

In a last-ditch effort to survive, he focused all his intent on his heart and thousands of drops of blood fled his body in all directions. As soon as they moved, the golden god's arms moved as well. They encompassed all the directions the drops fled to. White sparks caught them all and burned them to cinders.

Axiu Qian saw his last chance being annihilated and he thought the end was near. In reality, a single drop had survived. However, it had been burned deeply and was almost gone. It literally crossed over space and time. Finally, it arrived into another realm. In its course, it fell on a small planet. At first, the spirit of Axiu Qian was inside this drop of blood, but it had been mostly erased by the white flame. The only thing that remained then was his last feeling, pure rage.

The drop of blood was then found by a young man. And that was its last memory. Then, Cao Yun only perceived vague sensations through the lens of the Drop of Wrath that had no physical senses but only relied on very weak spiritual ones.

Cao Yun guessed that this young man was his master, Cleansed Asura. He had used various means and techniques to further reduce the intent within the drop. By doing so, he had invented the 'Domination of Wrath'. Those memories were only bits and pieces and Cao Yun was not even able to see the face of the young Cleansed Asura.

Finally, Cao Yun's mind got strong enough for him to go back to his sea of consciousness.

*jnana mudra: thumb and index touching each other, forming a circle while the other three fingers are extended