Chapter 688: Black stone in a dragon's mouth

Sensing the threat around itself, the black orb began to shimmer with red glints. And as Cao Yun was putting more and more pressure on the spiritual presence around the orb, it was getting condensed, increasing the reaction of the orb. Unfortunately, there wasn't any other way. Cao Yun didn't just want to destroy the orb, he wanted to take it with him. And for that, he had to completely seal it.

Within the wooden box Yu Xiangling had, Cao Yun had found several seals he could use himself. Then, going through her memories, he quickly found out how they worked. However, the orb and the seals had been made specifically for Yu Xiangling. Without her soul, the orb wouldn't react well and no one else but her could easily put it back into the wooden box.

At the moment, Cao Yun was pushing his soul cultivation and even using his Sword Aura to create a dense and complicated array. Every single sword in the air was infused with both his spiritual senses and parts of his Sword Aura. After understanding Spear Heart, Cao Yun's ability to comprehend other martial states had improved greatly. Thus he was close to reaching Sword Intent. Although he wasn't completely there yet, he was close enough that he could still channel some of his Sword Aura directly into his weapons. But some of it did spill out.

With his Sword Aura close to Sword Intent, a large image appeared. All the swords that were pointing toward the black orb looked like fangs from a giant dragon. In fact, they almost seemed to form a maw ready to swallow the black orb whole or tear it apart between its massive fangs. Some people might even be able to smell the breath of the dragon, the fragrance of fresh blood on the fangs and even be intimidated by the presence of the beast. Of course, the spiritual senses of Cao Yun all over the weapons and the literal array formation they were forming were all amplifying the phenomenon.

Finally, the black orb lashed out as Cao Yun's array formation was closing in on it. A sudden wave of killing intent erupted and collided with the swords. Many of them were either pushed back or simply fell to the ground as though invisible strings keeping them floating in the air had been cut. And it was the case. The powerful killing intent had dissolved Cao Yun's spiritual senses here and there. Thankfully, the array formation was strong enough to endure. That being said, Cao Yun did feel the consequences of that assault.

If Yu Xiangling had been able to really control that black orb, Cao Yun might have really been forced to retreat. In fact, had she been a late Accomplished Demon, she might have been able to kill him with this black orb alone, without doing anything else. Thankfully, it was striking out of pure instinct at the moment and it couldn't focus its attack, it was just lashing out with waves of energy. If it targeted Cao Yun and used all of its strength in one singular attack, the young man would clearly be in danger.

Despite the apparent safety he was in, Cao Yun still put up many defenses between him and the black orb, just in case. He was holding his 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' and pushing his Spear Heart to the limit as well, even mobilizing his 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars'. If something came his way, he would be able to at the very least deal with it and either deflect it or simply move out of the way.

Then, the array formation closed again, getting closer and closer to the black orb. The presence of Demon God Da Mo was getting stronger and stronger as the spiritual aura was getting condensed. Within Cao Yun's heart, the Burning Blood was reacting. But immediately, the Drop of Wrath silenced it utterly. Dian Mo himself was still shaking with fear as much as he was trying to hide it. He didn't want to have anything to do with this black orb. However, he did understand why Cao Yun was trying to get it. And in fact, he agreed with those actions. Thus he didn't try to dissuade Cao Yun any further. As much as he wanted to help Cao Yun, he was simply too afraid to do so as he didn't want this ownerless presence to sense him in any way, shape or form.

Every cun forward, the pressure from the black orb was increasing. As the volume was being reduced from all directions, the density was increasing faster and faster each time. Even Cao Yun was sweating. A few more waves of killing intent were taking down swords here and there. Although the pressure and the killing intent were greater, the swords were also more tightly packed, protecting them. As such, the number of swords falling down lessened each time, but the strain was exhausting. The young man even gulped down a pill just to keep going.

At last, the sword literally touched the black orb. Cao Yun could almost feel that Demon God Da Mo was staring at him. After all, the swords were infused with some of his soul and it was now in direct contact with the black orb that contained some of Demon God Da Mo's soul as well. Thankfully, it was only a small part of it and it didn't have any intelligence. In fact, it had no connection with the actual soul of Demon God Da Mo or even the Empyrean Asura himself.

Although Cao Yun was panting and breathing heavily with sweat all over his forehead and soaking his robe, he wasn't done. In fact, this was probably the most difficult part. Indeed, he had forced all the presence back into the black orb and was keeping enough spiritual pressure on it to keep it that way. And now, he had to open a path for him to put the black orb in the wooden box. There were several ways, but Cao Yun chose to simply move the black orb with the swords, using his spiritual senses. It was probably the most direct and he was completely exhausted already. He simply had to raise the black orb and put the wooden box under it. Then, he would just drop it, and closing the box would be all that remained.

With that in mind, Cao Yun began to control the swords to bring them higher, while keeping enough pressure on the orb so it didn't fall back immediately. Cao Yun was quite literally grabbing Da Mo's presence with his own soul at the moment and he was forced to grip it tighter. In his sea of consciousness, he could feel intense pain as he was doing so. And it wasn't a pain of the flesh or the mind, it was his very soul. As much as he could, he tried to protect his Soul Embryo. What he realized in fact was that this intense pain and strain put on his soul was forcing some of his soul to go hide directly into his Soul Embryo.

As a matter of fact, it was a form of cultivation known by Cleansed Asura as 'Intimate Through Despair and Agony'. The idea was quite simple. As humans could get to know each other better under tough circumstances where they would deprive themselves of decorum and propriety, the same could be done with the soul. During the 5th-grade Spirit Warrior stage, one had to inject their emotions and personality within the Soul Embryo so it would become closer to their actual soul because in the next stages, they would literally merge and become one. The point of the Soul Embryo was to create a new soul that could survive the death of the body and even leave the body more freely. That free soul could get into contact with the Dao and allow one to study and understand it, making them a Sage.

Of course, this technique could also break one's soul or create many problems. Cleansed Asura himself had used it. But it had to be used only from time to time, especially to break through some bottleneck. If one's cultivation was going smoothly, it was a terrible idea. As a matter of fact, Cao Yun had no intention of using it at all as his cultivation was already going faster than he ever could have hoped for. Even outside of the Forsaken Dao Era, his speed was excellent. According to Cleansed Asura's memories, it was possible to be a little bit faster, but the margin wasn't that large and there were more risks with faster cultivation. Considering that the first reason why cultivators failed or stagnated in their cultivation wasn't a lack of potential or talent but injuries, Cao Yun would play around with it. He had already risked his cultivation a few times and didn't want to risk it again, especially at his current level.

That being said, having this possibility was a good thing. At any point he could encounter a real bottleneck and this black orb could also be used for that. Moreover, there were several ways to use it for Cao Yun to improve not only his cultivation but his various abilities. Unfortunately, he would never be able to use it as a weapon because it was made specifically for Yu Xiangling. Besides, he couldn't really use it outside of the demon territories. And trying to use this as a weapon against the Empyrean Asura was simply stupid.

Finally, Cao Yun slid the wooden box under the black orb and suddenly released the pressure on it. The black orb fell into the wooden box and Cao Yun used all of his spiritual senses to close it as fast as he could. This was probably the most dangerous moment as he had to let go of his array formation around the black orb in order to close the box. So Cao Yun went as fast as he could. In his hurry, he used most of his strength and the wooden box almost broke. Thankfully, nothing happened. The box closed.

For several minutes, Cao Yun kept observing the box. Around it, the maw of the dragon was almost closed as well, but some gaps between its fangs were ready to gnaw at it at a moment's notice. Although there didn't seem to be any direct threat, Cao Yun's tension was at its peak. Suddenly, it dawned on him. He had succeeded. Then, all the tension got drained and Cao Yun fell to the ground. His back collided with the cold floor. For some time, he breathed and relaxed. Recovering completely would take more time than that. But he had no time at all. Since he had no idea how long he could remain in this chamber without someone trying to contact Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng, he had to leave as soon as possible.

All of his spiritual senses came back into his sea of consciousness. Then, he realized that he could barely move. Besides, his soul had been so strained that he might not be able to let it out for quite some time. Thankfully, Dian Mo was still suppressing his Devouring Robber or Cao Yun would have been in trouble. This was the perfect moment for his Turbid Demon to try and destroy him. But to be fair, without Dian Mo, Cao Yun probably wouldn't have attempted to take the black orb. But he had, and he had succeeded.

It took Cao Yun more than two incense sticks. But finally, he stood up. Unless he rested he wouldn't be able to extend his spiritual senses very far. In fact, he wasn't even sure he could extend them at all at the moment. They were barely in his Wei Qi. And even his Wei Qi had retracted close to his skin.

Unlike Yu Xiangling, Cao Yun had no respect for either Empyrean Asura or Demon God Da Mo. Thus, he put the wooden box in his spatial ring without any hesitation. And now was the time for him to go. With his fatigue, his stealth was affected somehow. But he now knew how to control the 'Embrace of the Loving God' array formation. He didn't have to be as stealthy getting out as he had been getting in. Besides, he couldn't stay there several hours for him to recover completely. At any moment, someone might walk in. If the deaths were discovered, things would become more difficult for Cao Yun.

-

Outside of the Temple of Grace and Submission, Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan was getting impatient. He was literally sitting on the steps of the temple, his double-ended spear in hand, fidgeting with it really. Anyone else who would have done so would have been seen as disrespectful. In fact, most people would have simply been killed for such a behavior in front of the third holiest temple of the Heavenly Demon God Faith. However, no one would even dare to look at the Silver Wolf Marshal with reprobation.

On the other hand, his men were not as disrespectful but it wasn't because of the temple, it was because of their marshal. They would not behave in an impatient manner in front of him although they knew he probably wouldn't care. They had too much respect for him to do so.

At last, an old priest came back from the temple. As soon as he heard him, instead of standing up and facing the priest, the Silver Wolf Marshal nonchalantly turned his head around.

"You better tell me that your mistress is ready to receive her orders. Otherwise, I will walk into her chambers myself."

Just seeing his eyes and hearing his deep voice, the old man was terrified. And he knew that the Silver Wolf Marshal would not renege on his words. Thus he also knew that he had a problem.

"O, High Marshal of the Prestigious..."

"Get to the point!"

"Yes, yes... excuse this insignificant..."

The double-ended spear struck the steps in front of the Silver Wolf Marshal and the old priest began to speak in a direct manner.

"My mistress is currently working with Yu Xiangling. She asked not to be disturbed but I sent servants to fetch her."

"Tss..."

Of course, Silver Wolf Marshal understood that they had all been too scared to go fetch her themselves. In fact, those idiots had probably wasted his time speaking among themselves to find someone to go to her. But in the end, the cowards had sent servants do their work for them, knowing the bad-tempered Holy Cardinal might kill them just for disturbing her. This was pathetic, on everyone's part.

Then, he simply stood up.

"I have my orders. I've wasted enough time here. If she's not ready to receive me in the time of one incense stick, I'll get her myself and be done with it."