Revolt against the Heavens

Flying Poison's bones were sifting through the black mud. Soon he realized that this mud, this Unclean Evil, was in fact made of rotten flesh. It had rotten so much that it had turned into this disgusting black goo. And although he was doing everything he could to get it away from the figure of Axiu Qian, he ended up covering himself with it. The green moss on his protruding bones became coated in this taint.

At the same moment, the source of the shrilling noise became apparent. The Stinking Lungs, the corrupted Po of Spirit, the incarnation of corruption, had formed a physical appearance too. Unlike the emaciated Unclean Evil, Stinking Lungs was bloated. It had very small legs and arms that were almost blue as if no blood circulated from them. On the other hand, its chest and throat were enormous. The skin itself looked as though it could burst at any moment. And it was deathly pale with some terrifying purple outgrowths over it. Because of its bloated throat, the pathetic creature could not even open its mouth. So the sound had come from somewhere else.

Soon, the Stinking Lungs screamed once more as Cao Yun was focused on its form. At the moment air left its distorted chest, the young human realized where it was coming from. All over its distorted chest and throat, purple lacerations appeared and air and blood came out at once. The blood was extremely dark as the creature seemed to be always suffocating. When the sound came out of its deformed body again, the purple outgrowths also pulsated and a few of them finally burst, letting turbid air and blood out too.

After the stench of the Unclean Evil assaulting Cao Yun's nose, the shrilling sound from the Stinking Lungs was destroying his ears. Although everything was happening in his sea of consciousness, this was affecting his physical body all the same. Besides, he was also trying to fend off the savagery of the Blood Abyss.

While Cao Yun was in intense pain and torment, Demon King Mo Wang was simply enjoying the show in his floating Palace of Supreme Wisdom. However, as much as he was trying to appear confident and arrogant, he too was afraid. To be fair, even if he got Cao Yun's body, he wasn't sure he could do anything at all in this situation. His best bet was indeed for the young man to give up as soon as possible. If only he could get his body fast enough, he might be able to survive. After all, he had been a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Even though he had not been able to save all of his Spirit Embryo, he had fed off Dian Mo.

If Demon King Mo Wang could get Cao Yun's body, and especially his Drop of Wrath, he was convinced he could recover most of his cultivation. Besides, Cao Yun was also a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child. Thus, he might even become stronger than before. In those conditions, he should be able to tame all those Turbid Demons and even escape the Blood Abyss. But then, he would have to fight his way out of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose while being injured. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure he could do it and survive it all. If worse came to worst, he still had an ace up his sleeve to subdue the brat. Moreover, Dian Mo had finally stopped to resist him. Maybe he was afraid of being destroyed too. When everything was over, Demon King Mo Wang planned to annihilate all traces of Dian Mo and Cao Yun.

While Flying Poison was covered in the black goo, the giant red asura protected him from the horrendous sounds of the Stinking Lungs. Throughout Cao Yun's Upper Dantian, this upsetting melody was echoing in his nine chambers. Then, it even began to affect his thoughts and his very memories. Cao Yun's only remedy was to hold on to his rage and ironically to his shame to preserve the nature of his memories. Both feelings were now completely intertwined.

Finally, Cao Yun understood something. After having used the Weaver of Souls' calligraphy, he had a better understanding of the seven Po, the Corporeal Souls. Within his Nine Soul Peaks, Cao Yun's Five Agents got activated. The golden Insight Writings of his Dao of Spear also rotated around them as Shen the Fire Spirit was sending its flames all over the place. The bony Po character was bathed in flames and struck with Cao Yun's golden runes. Suddenly, it shattered into countless pieces that formed floating disks around the seven smaller pieces representing its different aspects.

As Cao Yun was circulating what little he had understood from the calligraphy, the Blood Abyss became even more violent, as though it was attracted to it. Unlike the sand of the desert, the intent within this blood turned much more eager to assault Cao Yun. Most likely, it had been corrupted by all the blood added to it to make it grow and prosper.

Since he had no other choice, Cao Yun gritted his teeth. In fact, they cracked and blood filled his mouth. At the same time, the Blood Abyss was burning his face too. Cao Yun's outward appearance was almost as terrifying as the Turbid Demons in his sea of consciousness. Indeed, his skin, muscles and even some organs, were constantly being consumed by the Blood Abyss while they were reforming themselves. Only his bones, heart, meridians and Dantian, were able to fully resist with almost no damage. Everything else was under constant assault. His pain was beyond belief.

His current priority though was his mind. If he couldn't get his Turbid Demons under control, there was nothing he could do. And for that, fighting them head-on wasn't the best option. He also had to improve his understanding of them. After all, they were part of him, or rather, their influence was shaping him just as much as any other soul in him. Indeed, he had understood quite some time ago that everything he could identify as his self was in fact the product of a constant dialogue between his ten souls, the seven corporeal souls and the three ethereal ones, his Po and his Hun. As they were constantly in dialogue, those souls were evolving themselves and also being influence by the outside world. In fact, the actions they shaped also shaped them in return. A very complex cycle of cause and effect was always altering one's self.

Since his rage was literally mixed in with his shame, Cao Yun had a better grip on it. While Flying Poison was wrestling with the Unclean Evil, Cao Yun was wrestling with his emotions. Shame was indeed essential. Without shame, he could fully fall into depravity like any common demonic cultivator. On the other hand, letting shame fester and keep his morale down wasn't good either. But he realized that his rage was only fueling his shame because his anger was turned inward. He despised himself for some of the things he had let happen, the people who had died right in front of him to save his life. His family had done so, but even Hongyu's parents... damn, even Dian Mo in the end. Then, he also recalled all the torments suffered by the demon slaves. He might have prevented some of them but he didn't because of his plans, using his weakness or his indecisiveness as cover.

He knew that he didn't have any good answer to any of those. But he shouldn't turn this anger against himself. He should turn this anger against those who were truly responsible for those crimes. There was much he could not repair, but there was even more he could do in the future. Instead of being crushed by this shame, he should used it to motivate himself even more.

At last, Cao Yun was able to weaken the Unclean Evil. As soon as it was weak enough, he didn't hesitate. Thanks to Dian Mo, and sadly maybe Demon King Mo Wang a little, he had a very good grasp on seals. The very moment the Unclean Evil showed any sign of weakness, the Flying Poison clawed a seal in the black mud. The Insight Writings also drew various runes in the air while using the flames from Shen the Fire Spirit too. All those seals and runes completely subdued the Unclean Evil. It wasn't yet under Cao Yun's full control, but it was getting soon to it. In a few weeks, or months at worst, this second Turbid Demon would finally be subdued, pushing Cao Yun further on the third layer of 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'.

In the sky, Demon King Mo Wang wasn't too pleased. Now, Cao Yun could deal with the Stinking Lungs. And his mind and soul were not that weakened by the previous fight. If things kept going on like this, he might miss his best opportunity. Maybe, he should act soon. There was some risk associated with it, but there was risk with any action or inaction he took at this point.

As Cao Yun was about to take care of the Stinking Lungs, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom finally acted. Thousands of columns appeared all around his sea of consciousness. Although the palace itself was still floating in the air, it felt as though Cao Yun's sea of consciousness itself had become the very palace. Before he could do anything against it, he felt nails piercing his bones. It felt as though his own Golden Blood had turned into countless needles sticking through his bones. This honestly wasn't worse than the pain of the Blood Abyss, but it was a very different kind of excruciating pain.

This time though, Cao Yun was ready for it. In fact, he had been ready for something like that for quite some time now. The moment Damon King Mo Wang activated the seals he had hidden within Cao Yun's body when he had been unconscious, the boy followed suit. Indeed, he had observed those seals already. When the fake Dian Mo had gotten rid of him, Cao Yun didn't trust him so he made sure to have some way to counteract them just in case. And thanks to his observation of Xixue's body and the seals created by City Lord Sihe, he altered the seals he had created for his own blood cultivation.

As soon as Demon King Mo Wang issued his command, those seals turned against him. Although they caused terrible pain to Cao Yun, the real victim was Demon King Mo Wang. In fact, if Cao Yun had not been so distracted and in such a terrible position, he shouldn't have suffered anything. However, he couldn't use his Drop of Wrath or even his cultivation systems as he saw fit at the moment. Anyway, Demon King Mo Wang truly was affected.

The columns that had appeared in all corners of Cao Yun's sea of consciousness crumbled into dust. The Palace of Supreme Wisdom was also full of cracks as bright green thorns pierced its walls. Cao Yun had weaponized the vitality of the world tree seed. And it had worked perfectly. Since he knew that the threat was a disembodied spirit, he had tailored his attack for that. After all, his promise to Dian Mo had entailed that he could hide himself and the outside world from him for some time every day. Cao Yun had used it well.

"You can't attack me!"

"First of all, I didn't, you just triggered a reaction. But more importantly, my vow is only to Dian Mo. Even though you keep him hostage, I have no reason not to attack you. If I hadn't had to deal with those Turbid Demons, I would have attacked you already, idiot. I also promised Dian Mo that I would protect him by hiding his very existence and that I would help him get another body. As ii turns out, I do need to get rid of you for that to happen. If there is no way to save him from your clutches, I know for a fact that he wouldn't want to become a prisoner like he had been for so long, am I right?"

"Stupid brat! If you think, he can hear you, let alone answer you..."

"Boy, go ahead! Destroy that bastard!"

"What?!"

A tiny ball of fire flickered for an instant within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. After that, both voices ceased. Suddenly, Cao Yun could tell that the two spirits were fighting for dominion once more. Apparently, the world tree's attack had helped Dian Mo gain some ground. But his voice was so weak that there was little doubt as to his survival. Thus, Cao Yun couldn't let him die for nothing. Although they had met as enemies, Dian Mo had certainly become a good friend. And today, he was going to die for good.

The Unclean Evil acted up once more but thankfully, the Flying Poison kept it under check. The only real threat now was the Stinking Lungs. Cao Yun's Spear Intent echoed throughout his sea of consciousness. As it sung hymns imbued with other understandings from Cao Yun, the many Insight Writings attacked the Stinking Lungs while the Five Agents were trying to quarantine it with the flames of Shen the Fire Spirit. Because flames were involved, the Rune of Fire also helped out. Fire was perfect against the Stinking Lungs. First of all, it was a representation of corruption and fire was often a representation of cleansing, just like water in some sense. However, the Stinking Lungs was also the corrupted form of the Po of Spirit, both related to Shen of course, but also to the Metal element. As such, Fire was perfect to melt and weaken it.

Although it wouldn't completely subdue the Stinking Lungs, it bought enough time. Axiu Qian grabbed the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Since its two occupants were busy fighting each other, he had no problem seizing it. His golden pupils shined through its darkness. The space within the palace was drowned in golden light. At that moment, Demon King Mo Wang finally flew out of it. It was a ball of darkness with five bat wings.

The very moment it tried to escape, Axiu Qian's remaining arms went for it and grabbed him. The giant red asura was trying to crush the last will of Demon King Mo Wang. Finally, Cao Yun was convinced he had some good grasp over his own mind. It was good considering that he still had to deal with the torture plaguing his physical body. However, Demon King Mo Wang's remnant was not going to do down so easily.