Revolt against the Heavens

Now that Cao Yun was a 6th-grade Golden Blood Child, he had to nourish his chest cavity, ribs and heart. As his heart would change, his blood would do too. His Golden Blood would slowly becomes the only blood in his body. With the Drop of Wrath in his heart and the fact that he had already tempered his Middle Dantian that was full of Fire Qi, such a grade would be extremely easy to break through. In fact, unlike most demons who would need two to five years, Cao Yun could do so in a matter of months. Moreover, he was trapped in the Blood Abyss. As much as it was torturing him and trying to devour him, it was also speeding up his cultivation.

Several times, Cao Yun still tried to swim upwards but the pressure was just too much. His bones and his flesh could take such a pressure put on them, but he could barely move. Besides, since his limbs were always being devoured and reformed just as fast, he couldn't very much rely on them. Strangely enough though, it comforted him. After all, he had no way of leaving so he had no guilt to feel about staying there. Although it was hell, it was also a great place to cultivate. And Cao Yun felt as though power was the greatest tool he needed. If he was powerful enough, meeting his goals would become so much easier. He wouldn't have to pretend being a strong cultivator, he would simply be one.

Through his Shendao the Heart Gate, he could let an almost constant stream of the Blood Abyss in. The pain never diminished but his Shendao was resistant enough to sustain the strain. Besides, his heart could easily absorb most of this Blood Abyss thanks to the Drop of Wrath. It was barely improving though. After all, it had already reached great heights. However, the energy absorbed through the blood was released from the Drop of Heart and helped Cao Yun temper his very heart. With his knowledge of blood cultivation, it became a very simple process, albeit painful.

Alone in this pit of burning and violent blood, Cao Yun had nothing to think about except his cultivation. During his mind cultivation sessions, he tried to think about the calligraphy he had bought. Unfortunately, he didn't have it with him. Fortunately though, neither did High Mother Qin Xue. He had left it in the spatial ring given to Hongyu. In that ring were his most prized possessions. Without this calligraphy to increase his efficiency, Cao Yun still tried to remember it as best as he could. It wasn't easy at all, even with his incredible memory. After all, this calligraphy contained extraordinary secrets even Cao Yun had not pierced through.

While he was remembering the calligraphy, the Blood Abyss he had absorbed reacted and images surged into his mind. He saw a young man full of vitality. His skin was completely crimson, as red as blood. All over his body, there were also golden lines as though he was some kind of statue. But he was clearly alive and breathing. His eyes were pure obsidian and he had silver hair with golden ornaments. Immediately, Cao Yun recognized a Reborn Demon, an asura on the same level as Demon God Da Mo. He wasn't just a demon, but a full-blooded asura for sure. Demons were the half-breeds between humans and asura Demon God Da Mo had conceived on Piaolu Planet.

Seeing this young man, it became obvious to Cao Yun that he was the Weaver of Souls, Fangzhi Hunpo. In many visions, Fangzhi was simply standing and Cao Yun couldn't make out anything else. Sometimes, he saw him alongside Demon God Da Mo. The body of the Demon God was exactly the same that was still trapped under the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal, called Devil's Jail by the Wubei Sect. Even then, his body was gigantic. His cultivation had been higher than Fangzhi's, but both asura seemed to respect each other's strengths although they were not of one mind.

Later on, the visions told another story. Fangzhi Hunpo was standing with Emperor Nuwa. Cao Yun could only see her back but he immediately recognized her. She had black hair tied in a very complex shape with silver and golden ornaments. It was exactly how Emperor Nuwa was always depicted. Besides, she was wearing a perfectly white robe as though she was mourning someone. Once again, these clothes were almost always the ones used to represent her, mourning those who had fallen on the battlefield and those she had not been able to save from slavery. Emperor Nuwa mourned for mankind and implored them to always protect each other.

Finally, the young man saw a monstrous battle between Fangzhi and Demon God Da Mo. It happened on the Desolate Sepulcher. At the time, it wasn't a continent. Back then, it was still attached to the main land as there was only one big continent. Cao Yun only saw glimpses of their fight and couldn't make out everything. From Fangzhi's back, eight long and sharp black spider legs came out. From their extremities, they were holding a spinning wheel and various threads. Those very threads formed extraordinary runes. Besides, there were also many needles flying all over the place to attack Demon God Da Mo.

On the other hand, the Demon God wasn't waving any weapon. He was using brute strength to fight against his opponent. Apparently it wasn't enough. Indeed, at some point, Cao Yun saw Demon God Da Mo with a giant cudgel. The continent had been engulfed in a prodigious storm spanning as far as the current Desolate Sepulcher. Its center was the current Desolate Pillar in which Cao Yun had first arrived. Fangzhi's spider legs had been either broken or ripped apart. His hair was disheveled and his red skin was covered in his own blood. Before the cudgel crushed him completely, he threw as many needles as he could toward Demon God Da Mo. Cao Yun saw through this move while Demon God Da Mo had not.

Among all those needles, there were copies of manuals. Since he had seen it before, the young man recognized the 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks' manual. Then, the Weaver of Souls had truly been the one who had written this manual. Many had probably been lost or destroyed. Several had found their way toward the future Hongchen Kingdom. But it was likely that there were other versions of this manual still in existence. Thankfully, the demons seemed to be oblivious to their existence. Even the Sisters of the Abyss had probably not found them. Given how powerful they were now, they would be a nightmare with such a manual. It was a good thing it wasn't within the spatial ring they had stolen from him.

Amid those visions, Cao Yun also got much knowledge. He had seen various runes and seals used by the Weaver of Souls. Apparently, mind cultivation and seals were his specialty, hence his name. But there was even more. The Weaver of Souls clearly knew how to speak Antique Sixian. Probably, it had been a spoken language where Demon God Da Mo and the Weaver of Souls had come from, or maybe they had encountered it before reaching the Piaolu Planet. Indeed, there was now no doubt that both asura had come to this planet from another one.

Thanks to those visions, Cao Yun was able to learn quite a lot of Antique Sixian. By studying them further, along with what he already knew, he was certain he could master this language in less than a year. But it wouldn't allow him to read all of Cleansed Asura's documents as they were a mixed-bag of Antique Sixian and Nuhua. That being said, he would clearly be able to understand some of those documents and improve his knowledge. Besides, he could finally start to decipher those he couldn't comprehend right now.

-

Finally, after five months, a loud boom echoed from his heart. For many hours, his very heart pounded as though it was trying to escape his chest. In fact, if the heart of a mortal had pounded like that, it would indeed have broken their ribs and escaped their chest. Of course, with his cultivation, this was nothing to Cao Yun. However, it was proof that he had officially reached the 7th-grade Golden Blood Child stage. Now, he would need to practice his Golden Body. Thanks to his improved Golden Blood and his excited beating heart, Cao Yun could fundamentally change the nature of his tissues. Maybe this would help his flesh resist the Blood Abyss.

By achieving a Golden Body, he might truly break free from the Blood Abyss. At the very least, it would diminish the pain, hopefully.

Practicing Golden Body was rather simple in theory. One had to send one's Golden Blood into their own flesh to temper it. In fact, it was like burning one's flesh to destroy any impurities. In other words, it was more or less what the Blood Abyss had been doing to Cao Yun's flesh for almost half a year now. There were many techniques to improve the process. Most of them were movements meant to concentrate the blood and the mind on specific points. There were also different orders in which one would try to produce a Golden Body. With Cao Yun's understanding of his own body, finding the best way wasn't too difficult.

Now that he had advanced his blood cultivation, Cao Yun also tried to move once more. In fact, from this day onward, he did try to move around more and more. The pressure from the Blood Abyss was incredible and it pushed not only his blood cultivation but his physical cultivation as well. If he could see him train, Chief Instructor Peng would be proud of his former student beyond measure. Despite his achievements, he was not neglecting his physical body. It was sadly what many cultivators did. To be fair, most of them simply didn't have the time to cultivate everything at the same time and they were in a haste to improve first their Qi cultivation and to become Spirit Warriors. One could understand them. But because Cao Yun was already extremely fast with his cultivation, he could take some more time to make his foundations even sturdier.

While fighting both the pain and the immense pressure, Cao Yun was thus cultivating his body, his blood, his Qi and even his mind. Almost every aspect of the young man was being cultivated by this horrendous experience. Unfortunately, he could not develop his martial arts in those conditions. Because he was missing those martial arts, Cao Yun imagined many fights in his mind, but this wasn't the same thing. He could improve his perception of his Spear Intent but he couldn't develop it much. However, he could find ways to train his knowledge of certain occupations. In fact, he mainly trained on his knowledge of seals.

Within the texts left behind by Cleansed Asura, Cao Yun had found some blood cultivation manual. He hadn't been able to translate everything and he didn't even know the full name of it. Most likely it was something like 'Star Robbing Vessel', but he couldn't be entirely sure of that. What he was sure about though, was that this manual was way beyond everything he had read among the libraries of the Desolate Sepulcher until now. Even if Cleansed Asura was human, he had found texts about asura cultivation. After all, a human could still try to adapt them to cultivate their own blood, just like some humans of the Hongchen Kingdom had done.

'Star Robbing Vessel' insisted on turning one's body into a large constellation in order to absorb the Fire Qi from the stars themselves. There were various ways to do so, certain postures to practice, mental visualizations, and many other methods. The one method that intrigued Cao Yun was the idea of forming blood stars and blood vessels. The first ones would emit their Fire Qi outward while the latter ones were meant to absorb the natural Fire Qi coming down from the stars. Although there was no access to the stars, Cao Yun was able to adapt this technique thanks to his understanding of array formations.

Moreover, instead of simply forming blood stars and blood vessels, he created blood seals and runes thanks to what he had learned from Dian Mo. In fact, he also found texts talking about seals within Cleansed Asura's documents. He couldn't understand everything now but he could still piece some things together to try and improve his own seals a little bit.

After around six months of practice, Cao Yun had formed a large and complex network of seals within his bloodstream. He had even made it so it was perfectly harmonious with his meridians and vessels. By that time, his two cultivation systems were well integrated with each other.

Once again, a large boom echoed from Cao Yun's entire body. Strength gushed forth from his joints as all his tendons and muscles vibrated with incredible force. He had finally reached the stage of the Golden Body, he was now officially a 8th-grade Golden Blood Child. Most average demons would have taken somewhere between three to eight years. He had done so in half a year. Of course, most demon would have been much faster in Cao Yun's current environment, given they had been able to survive long enough...

At the same time, the young man felt that force reverberating within his own body as though some of it had been trapped. A powerful vibration assaulted his meridians all over the place. This was in fact exactly what he had planned for. Thanks to his seal, he had done everything to trap this energy resulting from his breakthrough so he could use it for another breakthrough. This time, Cao Yun was trying to forge his meridians and to become a 6th-grade Mortal Warrior. The process was relatively violent but it had high chances of succeeding. And it would even strengthen the connection between all of his cultivation systems.

In order to do so though, he had to circulate his Water Qi and the Wood of the world tree. Indeed, his blood was full of Fire Qi. Besides, the Blood Abyss was also an extremely Fire environment.