Chapter 635: Fading Fang

Cao Yun tested out various means of producing this vibration through his Huang Ting. Basically, 'Golden Hammer on Silver Rock' was using both Dantian as resonating chambers. One had to then make sure that those vibrations would be mainly focused on their own Soul Embryo. With Cao Yun's knowledge and understanding, this was extremely easy to do. From this point forward, there was no other trick. That being said, Cao Yun was still trying to improve it as much as he could.

In the end, the only real thing to improve was the interval of time between each small strike. Assaulting his Soul Embryo too often was bad. Thus, he had to gauge the reaction of his Soul Embryo each time. In itself, it was helping him get closer and closer to it. Truth be told, it reminded Cao Yun of an egg he would be hatching, just like Hongyu. He had to make sure that once hatched, the egg would be familiar enough with his own soul and mind. The tighter their bond, the faster and smoother his cultivation would be for the remainder of the Spirit Warrior realm.

For weeks, Cao Yun remained in isolation and focused solely on his Qi cultivation. He even neglected his martial arts and his blood cultivation. To be fair, they had both risen tremendously. And considering that awakening one's Soul Embryo could be a lengthy process, Cao Yun prioritized it. Moreover, in the Hongchen Kingdom, he couldn't fully show his blood cultivation. It would have to be hidden at all times by his Qi cultivation. Thus, he had to push it far enough.

While Cao Yun was doing all that, Hongyu was also slowly developing her seventh core. Unlike Cao Yun, she had to absorb enough Qi into her forming core in order to fully manifest it. Just like muscles for humans, simply eating more would not make them grow bigger after a certain point. Her body itself could not agglomerate all the absorbed Qi into her slowly forming core. In fact, the quality of what she ate was much more important. It could take decades for her to form this seventh core. But she had been spoiled with how fast her cultivation had been. And indeed, the Evil Core and Wrath Core she had were both making her stronger and her cultivation faster.

That being said, she was clearly reaching a plateau. Her cores would become more and more difficult to form, especially if she didn't actively try to form them. Cao Yun might be able to help her thanks to some documents about demonic beasts he had read. However, he was too busy right now. And she didn't want to disturb him. So she spent most of her time enjoying a slow life in the residence they were staying in. From time to time, she went out to hunt other demonic beasts. But there weren't powerful demonic beasts around the capital, for obvious reasons.

After more than a month, Cao Yun finally received good news. He had obviously received much information on what was happening within the Desolate Sepulcher. But he hadn't really reacted to any of it. After all, he had planned it and after that, it had been out of his hand. From now on, the politics of this continent wasn't his problem anymore. Maybe he might come back some day to check on them. But he wouldn't worry. This was their life and he had given them everything they needed to succeed. The very future of the Desolate Sepulcher rested on the people he had chosen. This would be a heavy burden for them of course. But this was the best thing for everyone. At the very least, Cao Yun couldn't find a better solution.

High Mother Lisha herself interrupted Cao Yun's meditation. Very carefully, she entered his private chambers. An array formation was completely isolating Cao Yun from the rest of the world. But it wasn't too strong since he was in a safe location. Such an array formation only allowed him to stay in a quiet environment. Still, High Mother Lisha didn't disturb it. Instead, she studied Cao Yun's face and demeanor. The fragrance of the incense was relaxing her as she was watching over the young man. He was wearing plain clothes and had an extremely serene face at the moment. She barely could recognize the man who had slaughtered High Mother Qin Xue or fought Lord Wanghuo. Cao Yun almost looked like a young monk. Besides, his beard had been recently shaved.

After a few minutes, when Cao Yun didn't seem to be in the middle of something delicate or important, she finally stepped into the array formation. She bowed and waited for Cao Yun to react to her presence. No matter how deep his concentration was, she knew that he would sense her presence. And indeed he did.

Since he was still watching the effects of his last golden strike, the young cultivator remained in his meditative state for a while. Clearly, High Mother Lisha's message wasn't urgent enough to break his concentration so it could wait. Other people would have become mad seeing this scene. The greatest religious leader of the entire continent was bowing to a young man who wasn't even a native of the Desolate Sepulcher, a follower of the Weaver of Souls, or even a demon in the first place. However, both Cao Yun and High Mother Lisha found the thing absolutely natural.

At last, Cao Yun opened his eyes. After spending so much time within his mind mind, he spoke out loud. After all, his array formations would conceal their conversation. And if things became too sensitive, they could end up speaking telepathically anyway.

"What is it?"

"Noble Lord, Jing Baiyu the White Whale finally berthed at the port. Minister Renhai sent his orders and the Captain is ready to receive you."

Cao Yun was a bit perplexed about the way she phrased that last sentence.

"Receive me? Where is Captain Jing?"

High Mother Lisha hesitated but finally spoke out loud.

"Jing Baiyu's words were as such: 'The damn brat can come and beg me permission to board my beauty so long as I stay in dock.' Those were his exact words..."

Even after hearing those words, Cao Yun wasn't particularly shocked. From what he had heard from this Jing Baiyu, this was to be expected. The old man was known to be boorish. However, he was simply talented enough that not even Lord Wanghuo gave him any attitude about it. In fact, Lord Wanghuo found his demeanor refreshing as he would consider everyone else the same, even if they were the king of the Nalupu Kingdom in person. Considering how important the trade with the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was, no one would dare to make trouble for a captain who could cross the Divine Blood Ocean.

"Then, I will go ask for permission right away. My things are all ready?"

"Yes, Noble Lord."

As she answered, she gave him a white spatial ring. It was the most spacious spatial ring anyone could find in the Desolate Sepulcher. Some could equal it, but none could surpass it. And yet, she gave it without any hesitation. Cao Yun had bought many things to prepare himself for his return. He had hundreds of plans. Unfortunately, he knew that those were almost useless. Indeed, as long as he didn't have a right picture of what was going on, his plans were mere ideas. Thus, he made sure to be prepared for almost everything. At the very least, he had used all the resources he could find in the Desolate Sepulcher.

Apart from this white spatial ring, Cao Yun kept his personal spatial ring he had once gifted to Hongyu. He also had a few others of varying sizes. Each and every single one of those spatial rings had seals in them. Among them, most seals were meant to both protect and locate the rings, but other seals were also meant to attack any would-be thief. Stealing from Cao Yun would become almost impossible, and lethal in many cases. He had remembered his lesson from Cang Yin.

Thinking about that, Cao Yun remembered his worries about characters like Cang Yin and Sha Diyi. Hybrids between humans and demons could have infested the Hongchen Kingdom. Technically, every human and demon was in fact some form of hybridization between humans and asura of course. After all, both were descendants of the legendary Three Jade Saints. But those people had been birthed by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy to infiltrate the Hongchen Kingdom. By crossing bloodlines, they had been able to dilute their demon blood in order to produce humans. So they could go through the barriers of the Hongchen Kingdom. And they could strike from within.

In fact, there might be high cultivators or high officials who were completely loyal to the demons. And it would be impossible to detect. Indeed, they were truly humans but indoctrinated by religious zealots who hated all mankind and wanted the death of every single human being in order to bring back their god, Demon God Da Mo. Those traitors were probably even more dangerous than the Empyrean Asura Theocracy and Emperor Weide united. After all, the greatest strength of mankind was its unity. Unfortunately, the Empyrean Asura had conquered all the other demon kingdoms to unite them in his folly. And now, the humans were fighting among themselves. Cao Yun was truly worried about the current state of the Hongchen Kingdom.

-

Cao Yun reached the port where Jing Baiyu was. Since his boat had berthed here, Captain Jing Baiyu, the While Whale, had not left his ship once. The old man was known by all. He hated the ground and loved the sea. If he could, he would simply live among the tides. But unfortunately, he had to come back all the time. At the very least, he needed to repair his ship and to replenish his supplies. Besides, he had to perform tasks for the Nalupu Kingdom in order to keep getting enough funds.

It really wasn't difficult to find the White Whale's ship. As soon as Cao Yun reached the dock, he didn't ask anyone, he simply walked toward the oldest and most decrepit ship he could fathom. Just by looking at it, the poor ship seemed to be falling apart. No paint was visible anywhere. Even the name of the ship was gone. What had once been ornaments were all smashed. Planks were put here and there and the ship looked as though it was being held together by a few nails. Despite all that, there was a certain aura all around the ship.

With his senses, Cao Yun could immediately tell that a lot of blood had been shed on and around this ship. Both demons and demonic beasts had died around that ship. But this wasn't the only reason behind that aura. The ship itself was majestic. All its flaws could not hide how great this ship was. Indeed, Jing Baiyu's ship had been crafted by incredible artists and craftsmen. Jing Baiyu had participated in the process himself. To this day, he was the last man alive who had helped build this ship and he was its only captain.

On the deck, Cao Yun saw the figure of an old man. He was rather large for his age. On his head and around his mouth were gray and white hair. Clearly, this old man had never heard about scissors or razors for quite some time. Unlike Cao Yun, he wasn't groomed at all. His clothes were washed-out because of the salty air of the ocean. But his skin and his eyes had also suffered.

Just by looking at him, Cao Yun could tell he was a late Golden Blood Child. This cultivation level wasn't impressive at all to the current Cao Yun. But for someone who spent their life on their ship, out at sea, it was indeed a huge achievement. The old man was obviously Jing Baiyu.

Despite his appearance, Jing Baiyu was not even two hundred years old. He could probably live for eight to nine hundred years old more. In fact, he might even reach the Accomplished Demon realm at some point in his life. And yet, he appeared so old and worn. Everything around him though screamed vitality and strength. When he saw Cao Yun, Jing Baiyu didn't bat an eye. The young man couldn't even know whether he had been recognized or not since Minister Renhai had probably told him everything.

Anyway, Cao Yun walked toward the ship. He bowed respectfully and projected his voice toward the old man.

"This humble one asks for permission to board your respected ship."

"Humph... Not too bad... Come on in, boy."

A hoarse voice answered Cao Yun's words. Thus, he slowly walked forward and boarded the ship.

"Welcome on Fading Fang! You're the boy this scoundrel asked me to bring to God's Land?"

"Indeed I am."

As they were speaking, Jing Baiyu was inspecting Cao Yun very carefully.

"Do you know anything about boats?"

"I've read..."

"Then you don't. Just say so instead of wasting my time! Have you ever been on a boat?"

Cao Yun remembered very tiny boats he had been on. But he already knew the While Whale wasn't talking about those so he immediately answered.

"No, sir."

"Useless! If you ride with us, you'll be under my commands. No matter what I ask of you, I expect you to obey. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

Cao Yun thought about adding a few words to try and get a favorable opinion from the captain. But he had realized that Jing Baiyu would frown upon any other answer than something direct and to the point. It was futile to try and impress him. In fact, it would have the opposite effect.

"Will you ride alone?"

"No, sir. I will take a companion with me, a demonic beast."

Jing Baiyu stopped for an instant. His face got darker and he clearly made some effort to control himself.

"What kind of demonic beast?!"

"A 6-core demonic beast. She's a Sky Tyrant Fenghuang. I can assure you that she won't cause any..."

"Are you kidding me?! You want to bring a freaking demonic beast on my Fading Fang?!"