As Hong Yin completely and willingly opened his soul to the invader, Cao Yun could see through his entire being. Apparently, Hong Yin was indeed very close to a breakthrough. In fact, he might have been able to break through to the Accomplished Demon realm in a matter of weeks if not days. After hundreds of years stuck in this realm, Hong Yin's relentless efforts would have finally borne fruit. But as he had not yet achieved this result, he still remained a very easy target for Cao Yun. Honestly, even being a 1st-grade Accomplished Demon wouldn't have helped him much. What truly concerned Cao Yun however was whether there were seals within the old priest.
Sure enough, there were seals. In fact, they were even more intricate than the ones Cao Yun had already encountered. And those seals mainly came from the Burning Blood he was using. Indeed, in his sea of consciousness and in his body were several seals and blood runes that would protect him and improve his cultivation. But they were of almost no concern to Cao Yun at this point. However, the seals that had come from the Burning Blood could assault his very soul. And this was a problem.
At the moment, Cao Yun was barely connected with this part of his spiritual senses. In fact, it was as if there were two Cao Yun. Most of Cao Yun's soul was focused in his body and this sliver of soul that had infiltrated the Temple of Grace and Submission had a very loose connection with it. Since it was now locked in this room with Hong Yin, the Void Nurtured Platinum prevented it from contacting Cao Yun's main soul completely. Cao Yun was just vaguely aware of its presence but they couldn't communicate any kind of thought. And this was a problem since Dian Mo would be of great help in this situation. Indeed, he was much better when it came to seals. But this didn't mean that Cao Yun was ignorant either. Besides, he had tricked Hong Yin into opening up his soul.
Before the old priest could realize that he was being tricked, Cao Yun decided to keep playing his role.
"Your cultivation is reaching a turning point, indeed. You've honored my blood and my name without any doubt. Soon my blood will penetrate your skull and expand your soul. You might even be able to tame your first Turbid Demon in less than eight months."
Hearing such good news, the doubts that could build up within Hong Yin's mind completely dissolved. And Cao Yun kept on pressing, using his mental attacks as much as he could to make Hong Yin's mind even more malleable and gullible.
"With this technique I gift upon you, you'll be able to assimilate my blood even better than anyone else in this Temple of Grace and Submission."
Each and every word spoken by Cao Yun was enunciated perfectly as though this was his native tongue. Moreover, he was pouring his own energy behind those. As a fragment of Cao Yun's soul, it was slowly losing its energy so it was trying to conserve it, but right now, it didn't care. Cao Yun had to convince this priest and get rid of this seal in order to do what he wanted. Unfortunately, this wasn't optimal but it was the best course of actions Cao Yun had at the moment...
"Receive my words now."
"This insignificant one is ready to receive Heavenly Demon God's Holy Scripture."
Holy hymns and golden mantras appeared everywhere within Hong Yin's mind. Cao Yun was giving him a very complex mix of 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks' and 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art'. As a matter of fact, Cao Yun was focusing on the 'Devouring Abyssal Embrace' path of the 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art'. This was the path used by the Sisters of the Abyss to turn their disciples into worthwhile blood sacrifices. If Cao Yun couldn't get rid of the seals created by the Burning Blood within Hong Yin, he had to find another way to break apart his soul and steal his blood and he had. After all, Cao Yun's best ways of extracting one's memories was 'Melting the Shattered Mirror' and it required to shatter someone's mind and soul completely.
By combining those two arts, Cao Yun had created a very impressive technique. Anyone reading it would have been astonished. With what Cao Yun had called the 'Sealed Demon in the Blazing Abyss', one could improve both their blood and their soul at the same time. Obviously, any demon would think that this technique was made specifically for their kind. In that technique one would use their very blood as chains to trap their own Turbid Demon. Then, their own blood could feed the Turbid Demons while keeping them restrained. Immediately, Hong Yin thought he had found an authentic godly cultivation method. To be honest, 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks' and 'Abyssal Blood Veil Art' both came from the Weaver of Souls, who had known Demon God Da Mo and had been very close to him. Hong Yin couldn't see the difference at all.
"This unworthy one will spend his entire miserable existence worshiping the Heavenly Demon God. Even if Heavenly Demon God orders this pathetic one to lay down his meager life and destroy his weak soul, this unfilial one would obey on the spot."
In his mind, Cao Yun was thinking that this was a very good thing that Hong Yin's desires aligned so well with his goals.
Hong Yin decided to practice Cao Yun's customized 'Sealed Demon in the Blazing Abyss'. Cao Yun had crafted a technique with very complex upper layers. Truth be told, the upper layers didn't mean anything and this was why they were so complex. Someone who was talented and knowledgeable in either soul or blood cultivation would have easily seen that those layers were utterly garbage and were just words put together to sound impressive but lacking any kind of substance. In fact, some sentences didn't make any sense at all for someone with a good understanding of asura cultivation. But Hong Yin wasn't that talented or good. Besides, he was subjugated by the first layer that promised such achievements.
This old man had been convinced that he would have a hard time forming even one Turbid Demon, but with this technique, he might have a chance of forming all seven of them in his lifetime. He might actually become a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon. And if his own god had chosen him, he might break the curse of the Forsaken Dao Era and transcend the Accomplished Demon realm all together. With such excitement coursing through him, Hong Yin began to practice earnestly.
Unfortunately for Cao Yun, Hong Yin really wasn't that talented or knowledgeable. Soon, he began to ask more and more questions. Even the first layer was too complicated for him. Cao Yun had made it so so that his true intentions wouldn't easily been discovered. But his worries had been completely unwarranted. With each question, Cao Yun was forced to dumb down his technique until the point where he was almost forced to tell Hong Yin exactly what to do to entrap himself. This was really pathetic...
"Use my own Burning Blood to circulate according to the Lesser Soul Fire mantra. Let it spread in your nine cavities as it permeate through your entire brain. No, don't try to control the flow of your thoughts, let them mix naturally with... No, not like that!"
"This untalented one is sorry, master. Your teachings are heavenly but this old man's brain is simply lacking."
Cao Yun wanted to scream at him that he was the most incompetent idiot he had ever stumbled upon. Even very simple things were lost on him. But he controlled himself. Even being called master by this old man felt terrible. Cao Yun had had two official outer disciples. Both of them happened to be demons, but they were so superior to this fool that it was painful.
"Stop worrying about your mistakes. I did choose you after all. You have great potential... Here is a revised version of the first layer."
"Thank you, master."
Hong Yin studied the revised version. Almost any Accomplished Demon would have seen through what this technique actually meant. In fact, a lot of Golden Blood Children would have been able to at the very least guess that something was amiss, but not Hong Yin. And even if he had been able to see through it, he was simply in admiration of Cao Yun and this 'Sealed Demon in the Blazing Abyss' at the moment. If Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng herself had asked him to stop cultivating it, he would have disregarded her. After all, he was obeying the direct order of their god. Obviously, Heavenly Demon God Da Mo was above this sadistic woman. Hong Yin had always found distasteful how she used the servants to assuage her carnal needs. But he couldn't say a thing. It seemed beneath the worshipers of the Heavenly Demon God.
Now that he was the chosen one, Hong Yin would punish her. He might even make her ask forgiveness by showing him firsthand her prowess with those servants...
Hong Yin didn't notice it at first, but his thoughts were slowly changing. His emotions were also getting all over the place. But his excitement was hiding it all. Ironically, because his emotions were getting out of control, his ability to realize it was also compromised.
More and more thoughts about Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng appeared in his mind. All his life Hong Yin had been very conservative when it came to carnal desires, but the dam had just broken and very vivid images where drowning his reason. At the same time, his hatred toward heretics was growing exponentially. This was a very impressive feat indeed. Like many other priest, Hong Yin had led several purges. Strangely enough, Hong Yin despised torture and death. But when it applied to heretics, he was absolutely favorable to those practices. And he believed that heretics never suffered enough. It was as though those people didn't count as people in his eyes, and they didn't indeed.
As scenes of absurd decadence and utter monstrosity emerged throughout Hong Yin's mind, his very soul began to crack. In his very heart, Hong Yin had formed the eight characters from the first layer of 'Sealed Demon in the Blazing Abyss'. They formed what Cao Yun had called the Lesser Soul Fire. As he had formed it, his blood had flowed a certain way in his brain and it was nourishing his inner demons while throwing his Po into utter chaos.
Suddenly, his very soul collapsed. Hong Yin didn't even feel it as his mind was too far gone, he had lost himself in wild fantasies already. The eight characters of the Lesser Soul Fire literally ignited within his own heart. His mind was simply too far gone to even notice it. At that moment, Cao Yun's spiritual senses left his sea of consciousness as it was collapsing on itself. As it did, all the seals within Hong Yin's soul were breaking apart as well. Not a single one of them could endure. But the best part was that everyone would believe in a Qi deviation of some kind. And they would be absolutely right.
Indeed, Cao Yun had led Hong Yin on this path of Qi deviation. And now he could reap the rewards. Even Hong Yin's Hun was being consumed by his madness. The Lesser Soul Fire characters burned completely, corroding the Burning Blood used to draw them. Consequently, even the seals within the Burning Blood were being consumed. Of course, this would reduce the quality of the Burning Blood, but getting it wasn't Cao Yun's priority. Besides, he was only spiritual senses at the moment. Taking drops of blood out of the Temple of Grace and Submission would be difficult as he couldn't make it go through the walls like Cao Yun's spiritual senses could. But hopefully, he could still find some interesting facts within the burned blood.
As fragments of Hong Yin's soul were leaving his body, Cao Yun caught them all and consumed them with no restraint. Of course, he would have to take care of the inner demons within, but this was much easier than to unravel the seals without leaving any proof behind. Now, even anyone were to find Hong Yin's corpse, they would conclude that he had died by his own hubris. Since this old man had spent centuries stuck as a Golden Blood Child, this would be even more believable. He had wanted to break through faster than he could and got consumed by his ambition instead.
Finally, Cao Yun consumed almost all of Hong Yin's soul. The priest's mind had been utterly destroyed. His consciousness was gone. But his memories did endure, although they were broken into tiny pieces. For Cao Yun's 'Melting the Shattered Mirror', this wasn't an issue at all. In fact, it made things easier.
All those fragments were collected by Cao Yun's spiritual senses. Bit by bit, Cao Yun was refining the old man's soul into his Drop of Wrath. At no point did he think about improving his Soul Embryo as he didn't want to corrupt it. But the Drop of Wrath was sturdier and it could devour it all without any issue. As he did so, Cao Yun got most of Hong Yin's memories. Of course, he discarded the ones he didn't need.
Soon, the young man had everything he needed. In his mind was now a perfect layout of the Temple of Grace and Submission. He even knew how to enter it without triggering the array formations. Unfortunately, Hong Yin didn't know much about the array formations themselves. However, Cao Yun got lucky. Hong Yin knew who was in charge of the array formation, Yu Xiangling. While Hong Yin didn't like Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng, he was very respectful of Yu Xiangling. Indeed, the woman seemed to always be working. And, as it turned out, she also liked that despite his clear lack of talent, Hong Yin was hard working as well. But they had barely spoken so it wasn't too useful. At the very least, Cao Yun knew who his targets had to be.
Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng was a good target of course, but Yu Xiangling was much more important...