Chapter 473: A threat among the disciples

In the Sunmen Province, nine middle Accomplished Demons had suddenly appeared, led by a powerful 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. All were clad in black armors with various engravings on them. Now, those armors were all covered in fresh blood, the blood of the villagers used to form the orb that had allowed them to cross through space. That 7th-grade Accomplished Demon was General Ye. He was one of the generals handpicked by Empyrean Asura, the absolute ruler of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. As the ruler, he was both warlord and high priest.

Looking around him, General Ye noted who had made it out. On the ground, there were pieces of the two last officers who had failed to completely go through the orb. With his spatial ring, he took their armors. Then, all the demons around them absorbed the blood in their corpses. This wouldn't make them stronger by much, but it would have been a shame to waste such potent blood. Among their corpses, there were even a drop of pure golden blood. General Ye took it for himself. Those demons were almost like demonic beasts. Moreover, they had not said a single word since their arrival.

In the distance, General ye felt something. There was a presence nearby. Without any hesitation, General Ye raised in the air and flew straight toward the presence. His officers weren't far behind him. As soon as he saw who that presence was, General Ye sent his clawed gauntlet forward. In front of him was a mere Mortal Warrior trying to run away. Considering his clothes, he was probably just a hunter who had intended to rest in that village. Unfortunately for him, he had sensed what had happened and was now trying to escape the invaders.

Around General Ye's arm, the blood on his armor turned into a giant arm with terrifying claws. This was a form of Qi Manifestation through blood. As he was only a Mortal Warrior, the poor hunter had absolutely no chance of surviving. From General Ye's arm, those huge blood claws rushed forward and completely skewered the man. In an instant, he turned into a mist of blood that was added to General Ye's strength right away.

"General, we found traces of other hunters scattered all around."

As General Ye had gone after this particular man, his officers had all split up to try and find any other witness.

"We're isolated from the other cities. They probably won't be able to raise any alarm in time. But just in case, go in all the directions they could have run to. Kill everyone, cover their land in their own blood. The Silver Wolf General must not know about our presence until it is too late. We cannot fail! Even if they're only mortals, eradicate them all with all your strength!"

"Understood, General!"

In a flash, the nine Accomplished Demons disappeared in the air. Just like Cao Yun, they were flying very close to the ground so as to avoid being detected by anyone. They had a very clear mission and it needed to be performed with utmost care. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. If they were to succeed, they would cripple the Hongchen Kingdom for generations. Hopefully, they might even be remembered as those who had eradicated mankind from the face of the planet. Demon God Da Mo would reward them immensely once he would return.

-

In the Imperial Palace, Cao Yun had just been crushed to the ground. Above him, he saw the figure of a woman. Unlike the flying Spirit Warriors, she had stayed on the ground, ready to attack if need be. And the need had arisen. When she felt Cao Yun's presence, she knew who he was. Indeed, the demonic cultivators had been briefed about that young man who had disrupted their plans several times. Since he was close to Xiao Xuefeng and her disciple, they knew exactly where he would go, and they had been right. Because their forces were spread a bit too thin, only a few early Spirit Warriors had been mobilized to take him down. This was just a precaution, not the mail goal of their operation.

The woman was surprised when she noticed that Cao Yun was still drawing breath. His defense had bee incredible to resist had palm. However, he would not survive her second strike. On the ground, Cao Yun's mind was already on his spatial ring. In it, he had the Spirit Condensation Barrier given to him by Sect Leader Xuan. With it, he would be able to survive a strike by a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, let alone a 2nd-grade one. Fortunately, the need to use it disappeared.

All around him, he heard a nice melody. And he recognized it right away. It was an hymn of 'Otherworldly White Crane'. When the demonic cultivator's palm fell upon him, it clashed against the melody. The sound around Cao Yun acted as a shield and the palm simply dispersed without anything flashy. It merely stopped to be, scattered with the music. In the air, the demonic cultivator knew what had happened and tried to escape. But it was to late for her. A small white crane flew directly toward her head. In an instant, it had entered into her sea of consciousness.

Within, the white crane turned gigantic. It was encompassing all of the sky despite the sea of consciousness being infinite. There were many strange runes in there. In fact, the sky and the ocean were corrupted by blood and bizarre dark energies. In the center of her sea of consciousness, a small black flame suddenly enlarged. The ocean itself turned into flames and the sky was split open. Unfortunately, some seal deep in her soul had been activated so Xiao Xuefeng could not discover any of her secrets.

On the ground, Cao Yun had recovered and was witnessing the fight taking place above him. It only lasted an instant before Xiao Xuefeng also appeared at his side. Although he didn't want to distract her, he lost no time at all. Asking Dian Mo's help, he condensed the memories he had extracted from Sha Diyi and sent them toward the 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. At first, Xiao Xuefeng was more surprised by the fact Cao Yun had been able to do so. Indeed, although he could send some thoughts, sending the entire memories of someone's life was something else. Without Dian Mo's help, he would have never been able to achieve it. Anyway, Xiao Xuefeng was then much more surprised and shocked by the contents of those memories.

If they were accurate, and she had no reason to believe otherwise, not only had they been infiltrated by demonic cultivators, but even demons had hidden in their midst. At the moment, they could only see one enemy, but there were others lurking in the shadow. In fact, the demons had probably already put their plan in motion since they knew beforehand when the demonic cultivators would strike. This was certainly the worst day for the Hongchen Kingdom since the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. And almost no one knew of this. Xiao Xuefeng had to warn Emperor Weide as well as Sect Leader Xuan as soon as possible.

"Chen Guo, stay with my sister. Protect Feng Yingyue and your sister! Tell them everything too, I have much work to do."

Just like that, Xiao Xuefeng disappeared. Considering the direction in which she had gone, Cao Yun could guess where she was going. She hadn't gone toward the Everlasting Earth Palace. Instead, she had flown toward the Main Hall. This was the headquarters of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. And they were obviously within the Imperial City. Because he knew that she had connections there, it made sense. The Main Hall had array formations meant to communicate instantaneously with their local branches. That way, she would be able to send words of the impending threat of the demons. Of course, the Main Hall could also warn everyone about the attack on the Imperial Palace. Thus, they had probably been attacked first. However, they were almost as well protected as the Everlasting Earth Palace. In fact, Xiao Xuefeng was convinced the Emperor's palace would fall before the Main Hall.

The only advantage the Everlasting Earth Palace had over the Main Hall was the presence of Emperor Weide himself. Of course, this was a huge advantage. But Xiao Xuefeng had no idea how well Emperor Weide was going. After all, he had never appeared in public during the Alchemy Conference. It might be because he was too weak, or injured. Or maybe it was a trap to lure in the demonic cultivators by looking like he was weak.

As Xiao Xuefeng was flying toward the Main Hall, Cao Yun helped Hongyu. Her left wing was clearly broken and she couldn't fly anymore. However, she was still very fast. She ran along Cao Yun and they both reached Xiao Xuefeng's residence. Spirit Master Hua was standing guard and her spiritual senses were spread far. Obviously, her sister had told her that Cao Yun was nearby. Although she might have helped fight off the Spirit Warriors, Hua Fenfei was more worried about her disciples. Now that Xiao Xuefeng was gone, she had to stay with them. Although Mei Hua and Feng Yingyue were powerful, they were alchemists, not fighters. On the other hand, Cao Yun was more of a fighter than an alchemist.

The first thing Cao Yun noticed when he reached them was Xue Gulin. The young man was also surprised to see Cao Yun. To give him credit, Xue Gulin was able to hide his surprise very well. Unfortunately, everyone around him had good senses. More than that, Cao Yun had seen Sha Diyi's memories. Thus, he knew for a fact that Xue Gulin had paid someone to have him killed. Considering the chaos all over the Imperial City, the usual laws didn't really apply.

Without any hesitation, Cao Yun sent Sha Diyi's memories to Hua Fenfei. The woman immediately understood what was going on. Before she could react though, Cao Yun's spear had emerged from his spatial ring. And the next instant, it was stabbed through Xue Gulin's heart. Just like Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua, he was a great alchemist but he wasn't a warrior. His cultivation had been enhanced by pills and he had only reached the 1st-grade Mortal Warrior stage. Against Cao Yun's spear, he was almost powerless. Maybe he could have bought some time in a proper fight, but Cao Yun didn't leave him any opportunity to retaliate or defend. His spear went through his Wei Qi as though it were air.

Cao Yun's martial art had greatly improved. Instead of using fancy and complicated moves, the simpler ones were the best. There was no emotion in Cao Yun's attack. In fact, he had no grudge against Xue Gulin at that moment, he was just taking care of a threat. That was as simple as that.

Feng Yingyue and Mei Hua didn't react at all. On the other hand, Song Guixiang was quite surprised by the sudden murder taking place in front of him. Before he could do anything though, Hua Fenfei had sent in his mind what Xue Gulin had done. Suddenly, it all made sense. If his own master was telling him that, this was true beyond a doubt. Thus, he didn't have any sympathy for Xue Gulin. To be honest, he didn't like the guy because he had courted Feng Yingyue with much insistence despite knowing she had a Dao companion and wasn't interested in him. Yes, Song Guixiang loved women more than his fellow man, and yes he had probably done the same kind of thing before, or after, but Feng Yingyue was his sister disciple.

Just as the light was leaving Xue Gulin's eyes, Hua Fenfei entered his soul and performed a Soul Memory Search. Unfortunately, he knew nothing. He really was after Cao Yun out of his personal enmity. That was such a waste of a great talent. But Hua Fenfei absolutely agreed with Cao Yun's actions. They simply couldn't keep such a man by their side, especially in the current crisis. After everything was over, she would help Cao Yun deal with the consequences of that murder. Since they had all the evidence they needed through that Soul Memory Search and considering what was going on, Cao Yun probably wouldn't suffer any consequences. Usually, only the Imperial Palace could execute an alchemist, but the circumstances were special right now.

Hua Fenfei was keeping the four Mortal Warriors under her protection. Feng Yingyue saw Hongyu's state and immediately went to her. She tried to mend her wounds but her wing would take some time to heal properly even with her powerful bloodline. Now that they had some form of peace, Cao Yun decided to go ahead with his idea. Before, he wanted to keep his True Essence Frozen Fire pill to get closer to Emperor Weide and maybe Yong Ke. But now that Hongyu was wounded, he decided that it was time for him to help her out.

From his spatial ring, he took out the pill. The others immediately understood what he was trying to do. They all decided to help him help the Blood Boiling Fenghuang, even Song Guixiang. To be fair, there was nothing else to do really.

After several minutes during which Hongyu calmed herself and got ready for the pill, Cao Yun finally gave it to her. Then, he followed the pill with his own Qi and intent. He could sense the medicinal essence spread around her body. And he guided it as much as he could toward her fifth core, even injecting more of his intent within. With the pill, he had also added a drop of his blood after condensing as much of his intent in it as possible. With his senses, he could clearly feel that her fifth core was being formed at the moment. There was a vortex of energy in her core. It was just beside the evil core. With Cao Yun present, this evil core was no problem at all.

Since Hongyu wasn't resisting Cao Yun's interference at all, he could control the Evil Qi within. Once that fifth core was formed, the evil core would be entirely under control. In fact, Hongyu might even be able to use it freely without fearing the consequences.

As they were helping Hongyu, the alchemists suddenly heard a loud explosion in the distance.