Chapter 666: Clash between the sun and the cold

Without Cao Yun to operate the 'Dome of White Lightning' it wasn't as good as it could be. But it still got triggered when someone literally entered the branches forming the dome. Suddenly the white dome turned into a sea of lightning bolts. Electricity was coursing through all the branches, ready to burn down anyone foolish enough to get near it. This was the last defense of the 'Dome of White Lightning' if it was breached. With her speed and agility Hongyu was able to fly through this violent sea without getting hit but even she could feel the danger all around her and she wouldn't be able to dodge forever.

On the other hand, the Supplicant Tyrants' ghosts tried to follow her and were all destroyed. The mere proximity with this sea of lightning destroyed the ghosts. Indeed, those ghosts were emanations from their metallic armors. And they were extremely Yin while this 'Dome of White Lightning' was Pure Yang. As such, those ghostly figures couldn't survive even an instant within the boundary of the dome.

This didn't stop the three Supplicant Tyrants from chasing Hongyu down. They simply flew into this sea of lightning without any hesitation. Since they couldn't use those ghostly apparitions, they used their armors to protect them from the lightning. And it worked perfectly, the lightning coursed through their armors but was unable to penetrate them. However, one could imagine the pain within the armor as the heat was getting higher and higher. Nonetheless, the three metallic armors covered in electric arcs didn't exhibit any sign of discomfort or pain. They were relentlessly chasing Hongyu.

While Hongyu was forced to move around the branches, they simply rushed through them. So Hongyu tried to go deeper and deeper into the branches hoping to lose them. Unfortunately it didn't work either. On one side she was wasting her strength dodging the lightning. On the other side, the three Supplicant Tyrants were barely slowed down by the branches. Thus the difference between their speed got smaller and smaller. Without their ghostly apparitions they couldn't just appear in front of Hongyu but they were gaining on her and she was slowly exhausting herself.

Finally, Hongyu suddenly rose from the Moon Sheltering Adansonia. With her swiftness, the three armored demons were taken aback. As they were leaving the branches as well, Hongyu unleashed all of her flames. In the sky one could almost see a second sun as she used everything she had. Then, the sun came crashing down toward the ground. In the air, one could see a giant ball of flames falling toward a living sea of lightning. Such a scenery was extraordinary. Anyone could imagine the violence of the clash. If an early Accomplished Demon had been between those two, they would have died almost instantly.

Unfortunately, the Supplicant Tyrants were much stronger than early Accomplished Demons thanks to their battle formation. Even under those circumstances, their battle formation was still effective. During the entire chase, they had stayed in perfect harmony. As soon as they emerged from the sea of lightning, the sun came falling on them so they brandished their scythes. The three of them cut through the large ball of fire.

Three attacks became one. In the air, the blade of a giant scythe appeared and followed the movement of their attacks. It crashed into the ball of fire. For an instant, everything stopped moving. Even the demonic beasts and the demons who were still fighting on the ground or in the air stopped. They felt the intense heat from the sun but also a terrifying coldness in their very souls. All their senses got overtaken by this duality, this clash that was happening in the sky above them. Even though they couldn't look at it because of the brightness of Hongyu, they were still waiting for the result of this clash.

The scythe finally pierced through the ball of fire and this eerie coldness in everyone's soul won. Even the demons found it extremely disturbing, but no one would dare question the Supplicant Tyrants sent by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy.

Hongyu had used most of her strength when she saw the blade coming straight for her neck. With extreme agility she was able to dodge but her right wing was severely injured by the mere air pressure generated by this attack. There was also this strange sensation in it. Without her Evil Core and her ability to control Evil Qi, this sensation would have caused much more damage. That being said, Hongyu was in a terrible position.

Her ball of flames exploded and fire rained all over the battlefield. A few demons were either injured or killed. Unfortunately, a few demonic beasts did have any more luck and got incinerated by those flames.

Because of her injury Hongyu was unable to fly away when the Supplicant Tyrants came for her once more. From afar General Meng Tian was observing. He still wasn't sure but it seemed like this Sky Tyrant Fenghuang was the one controlling the demonic beasts. By killing her, they might achieve their goal. That being said, he felt like something was amiss. Indeed, the demonic beasts were protecting this array formation around the Temple of the Lesser Blood King. And no demonic beast should be able to set up an array formation. Besides, this 'Dome of White Lightning' was very impressive. So General Meng Tian was suspecting that someone was helping the demonic beasts. Still, Hongyu was clearly in command of those beasts. As long as the Supplicant Tyrants could take care of the situation, General Meng Tian had no reason to intervene and to risk his life.

As he was away from the fight, General Meng Tian could see a bigger picture. He suddenly felt some powerful energy waves coming from the Temple of the Lesser Blood King. To be honest, what he felt was very faint. But the fact that it had gone through the 'Dome of White Lightning' and was still strong enough to be perceived spoke volumes about its strength. A cold shiver went down General Meng Tian's spine. He had been right all along and someone was indeed in charge of those demonic beasts. But it seemed as though they had been too late. General Meng Tian was a coward who preferred to send his subordinates do his work but he was no moron. Clearly the demonic beasts had been protecting someone's breakthrough. Their enemy was even stronger than before.

In the sky, Hongyu was surrounded by the three Supplicant Tyrants. She could feel their cold aura all over her body so she circulate all of her Evil Qi to protect her from it. The three scythes shined with the white lightning in the dome and the fire on the ground.

All three blades fell toward Hongyu. She felt pressured by an invisible force. Their battle formation had cut off her retreat completely. There was nothing to do but to await her death. A terrible despair overwhelmed her as she felt this deathly aura from their scythes. Even her soul couldn't escape this attack. She simply stopped fighting back as her will was already under attack before the blades reached her flesh.

The very moment the scythes fell down upon her, she regained all her will to fight and live. Down below, the 'Dome of White Lightning' got broken through. A young man simply flew right into the branches and destroyed everything in his path. In an instant, he was between Hongyu and the three scythes. Turning his back toward the oncoming attack, thousands of swords rotating behind him blocked the combined attack of the three Supplicant Tyrants. From the broken 'Dome of White Lightning', many branches flew around the young man and went straight toward the Supplicant Tyrants, ready to skewer them.

Even with the violence of Cao Yun's arrival, the branches were not fast enough to pierce their metallic armors. Still, they exploded and pushed the tree Supplicant Tyrants away. Looking at Hongyu, Cao Yun was in pain. He immediately sent a pill in her mouth. His spiritual senses spread throughout the battlefield. In an instant, Cao Yun saw the entire situation. The demonic beasts and the demons had both suffered a lot but the fight was nowhere near being done. Many corpses were all over the place, both of demons and demonic beasts.

Using his full cultivation as a 5th-grade Spirit Warrior and a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon, Cao Yun focused his spiritual senses over the weaker demons. Any demon who wasn't an Accomplished Demon felt intense pressure and pain. Some weaker demons died on the spot without understanding what had just happened. Although everyone was surprised, the three Supplicant Tyrants didn't let Cao Yun do as he pleased. Before his 'Weeping Demon' mental attack could do any more damage, they rushed toward him.

Even Cao Yun had to be serious in front of those three 4th-grade Accomplished Demons. Unlike everyone else though, he immediately understood what they were. In his sea of consciousness, he could even hear Dian Mo's voice.

"Boy, you've seen those seals on them?!"

"I have. They're not demons, well... they're not living demons."

"Abominations!"

Dian Mo and Cao Yun had seen seals hidden within the engravings on their metallic armors. And they knew what those were without any doubt. Those seals were meant to trap souls. Within those armors, there was no living demon. At the moment, Cao Yun was being attacked by literal ghosts.

In the Piaolu planet, it was rather rare for ghost to be formed as the general environment wasn't Yin enough. Even Evil Qi could stay in one place very long, with a few exceptions. But those seals could both trap souls into the armors while protecting them from the exterior environment. In other words, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had cultivated ghosts. Most likely, they had used the corpses of three powerful demons to then fill them with Death Energy and Ghost Energy.

Death Energy was very familiar to Cao Yun as it was a form of corrupted Po. On the other hand, Ghost Energy was formed by the corruption of Hun. Upon death, the Po was supposed to sever the connection between the flesh and the Hun so the ethereal soul could leave. Most humans believed that this Hun would then go to the Heavenly Court where it would wait another reincarnation. But this Hun could be injured or damaged. Either part of it or all of it could stay in the mortal world and turn into Ghost Energy. With enough Ghost Energy, a real ghost would be formed. Some ghosts were so strong they retained memories from the dead they had been created from. But those ghosts were just echoes of the actual person.

With his knowledge of 'Death Verses', Cao Yun was much more sensitive to both Death Energy and even Ghost Energy. Dian Mo wasn't as sensitive but he could still deduce most of it thanks to the seals he saw. Instinctively Dian Mo was afraid of those seals.

Cao Yun didn't hesitate at all. He circulated his full cultivation with his very first attack. The sky turned darker and the seven Piercing Stars of the Azure Dragon appeared. From his sea of consciousness, the hymns and mantras of his Spear Heart resounded. All around Cao Yun there was a faint golden hue. Behind his back the swords stopped moving all together. Then he struck with his spear.

'Dragon Swimming Against the Storm'!

At that moment, Cao Yun finally formed his fourth Constellation, the Room Constellation. And from it he instinctively created the fourth stance of his 'Azure Dragon Through the Seven Storms' by combining 'Three Storms' and 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars'. His spear was extremely agile despite its mass. For everyone else, Cao Yun's spear turned into literal lightning and its very movement caused small storms as powerful gusts of wind assaulted the three armored ghosts.

The howling wind sounded like the scream of a real azure dragon. And Cao Yun's spear struck the armors exactly where the seals were. Immediately, the Death Energy and Ghost Energy within started to leak out. Using his 'Death Verses', Cao Yun began to literally absorb it. His knowledge of Ghost Energy was inferior but he was looking forward to working with it as it could help him develop his Hun as well and he needed it for his Soul Embryo.

The three Supplicant Tyrants were not going to let it end like this though. That very Death Energy Cao Yun was trying to absorb turned into large black chains and shot toward him. Seeing that, Cao Yun thought about 'Soul Chains' from 'Death Verses'. He had been close to understanding it but he wasn't quite there yet. However, he could recognize it. Those chains were clearly physical manifestation of one's Death Energy. They could strike both the flesh and the soul. Even Cao Yun had to be careful around such an attack.

'Dragon's Tail Sweeps the Sky'!

His spear swept the chains that were coming for him. From the spear, the scales of the azure dragon appeared and this Qi Manifestation pushed back the chains as Cao Yun had mixed in his own spiritual senses with it. That being said, he did feel an attack on his very soul as the chains clashed with his spiritual senses. If his Soul Embryo had still been sleeping it might have been severely injured in that clash. Against Cao Yun as he was now, this attack was strong but not lethal. In fact, it didn't even injure him, simply hurt him.

The next instant, Cao Yun appeared behind one of the three armors.

'Cracking the World'!

Using the butt of his spear, he broke apart the entire armor. As the metal exploded everywhere, the other demons still alive were able to see a rotting corpse inside the armor. Suddenly, they were all taken aback, wondering alongside what kind of monster they had been fighting.