Xiao Xuefeng heard Cao Yun's voice distinctly in her mind.
"No matter what happens, do not intervene. If I fail, I count on you to protect my brothers and sisters as well as Feng Yingyue. Prevent Cao Huiying from interfering too. I already gave some instructions to Sun Liao, but... Anyway, were I to fail, I don't want them to die for nothing. Before anything else, I need the poisoned pill, just in case. Don't say anything that could betray you. I'll take it, just let me access your spatial ring."
Xiao Xuefeng had almost no way to answer Cao Yun, as she would risk exposing herself. Sending any kind of spiritual senses outside of her body would obviously be suspicious in the presence of Emperor Weide and his daughter. She hated it, but she knew that Cao Yun was probably right. They could all just attack Emperor Weide, as he would annihilate them. However, Cao Yun was also a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon. Clearly, he was as strong as a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior and even stronger than most. Hopefully, if Emperor Weide were attacked by surprise, Cao Yun might be able to severely injure or even kill him. After that, though, even if he was able to kill his enemy, Cao Yun probably wouldn't be able to leave the capital alive. Xiao Xuefeng knew what he was planning, but she couldn't do anything.
In fact, his decision was proven by his talking to her and not Feng Yingyue. Cao Yun knew that Xiao Xuefeng would be calm enough to stop Feng Yingyue from acting up if he were to be killed right in front of her.
Xiao Xuefeng sent a small strand of Qi and soul within her spatial ring. As it was within her own Wei Qi, it was almost impossible to detect. Technically, it was a form of spiritual senses, but still within the confines of one's Wei Qi. Besides, it went from her flesh directly into the ring. Only someone closely monitoring her could tell that anything had happened. At that moment, she sensed something. It was a fleeting sensation, but she then realized that Cao Yun had taken the poisoned Nine-Souls Calamity Ascension Pill. Although she wasn't sure how he would use it, it was useless in her spatial ring. With all the efforts spent to refine it, she absolutely hoped that Cao Yun could make it worthwhile.
-
Before completely sealing the cultivation room, Emperor Weide had let his daughter in. For a few moments, the room had stayed open, albeit heavily guarded. Besides, the only door led into private quarters with many guards and soldiers.
Cao Yun lost precious seconds to shock. But as soon as he formulated a new plan, Cao Yun acted upon it. First of all, he had to get inside the room. Thankfully, he had a very thorough understanding of all the array formations. Still, he sent a telepathic message to Sun Liao. Parts of his soul navigated toward his friend. Basically, Cao Yun asked Sun Liao to keep his head clear and to stop Ren Chao from doing anything stupid. Indeed, things were going to take a turn very soon. Their plan was not going as they had anticipated at all.
After that, Cao Yun focused on his 'Ashen Feather Seal' so that he wouldn't be detected. The young man walked through a complicated maze of corridors and array formations. He walked in front of several guards. Most were Mortal Warriors and couldn't detect Cao Yun at all unless he physically touched them. At last, he got to the door where two early Spirit Warriors were about to seal it. With those Spirit Warriors, Cao Yun found another guard he recognized. He was Jian Zhenli. From all the memories Cao Yun had stolen, he knew who that man was.
Jian Zhenli, the Righteous Sword, was the leader of the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards when the Cao and Shui families had been slaughtered. Cao Yun got so close that he could have extended his arm and grabbed the murderer. Looking at his eyes, Cao Yun knew. He was the man who had slashed him open. He was the man who had taken his sister. He was the man who had killed his brother, his parents, and his great-grandfather. He was the man Cao Yun hated the most on the entire Piaolu planet. For an instant, Cao Yun almost lost control of his stealth, but he couldn't afford it. He pushed those emotions deep below. Right now, he had to save his sister. Vengeance would come, but later.
Thankfully, Cao Yun had arrived just in time. Director Hua's conversation with Emperor Weide had delayed them. They saw Princess Yong Ke kowtow before someone, and then Emperor Weide himself went to grab her. For them, it was too unexpected. A bit like Cao Yun, they had been stunned. Thanks to their astonishment, Cao Yun had been able to enter the room. Once inside, Cao Yun stopped moving, breathing, and even stopped his heart and his internal organs completely. With his powerful Golden Blood, Cao Yun didn't even need to circulate his blood all the time. Keeping his blood stagnant for a few minutes, maybe even hours, wouldn't be a problem at all for him.
Very slowly, Cao Yun came closer and closer to Xiao Xuefeng just so he could give her the telepathic message without crossing a large distance. After that, he touched her spatial ring and took what he needed as she undid any kind of seal on it for him. Now, Cao Yun had the poisoned Nine-Souls Calamity Ascension Pill. Honestly, he wasn't sure how useful it could be. But he didn't take it for the poison itself, he took it for the other contingency plan he had introduced into it. With this new situation, it might be more useful than he had initially thought.
Right now, Cao Yun couldn't attack as a human being, as it would implicate too many people. It could lead to a civil war among mankind. To be fair, if Cao Yun were killed, Emperor Weide would ultimately find out the truth. Still, with Huang Cixi's talent, Cao Yun was almost certain she could convince the Emperor himself not to pursue the matter. After all, Emperor Weide needed cohesion and unity too, he would have no reason to actively cause a civil war if there were other options. But it was obvious that everyone who had helped Cao Yun would pay a cost, some more than others. Moreover, the war against the demons wouldn't protect them forever. And Emperor Weide could also slaughter them discreetly as he had done to the Cao and Shui families. Cao Yun stopped himself before imagining anything terrible. At the moment, he wasn't dead. He wasn't planning on dying either. Hopefully, Cao Yun could slay the traitorous Emperor. In the worst case scenario, Cao Yun still thought he could escape. At the very least, he had a small chance of escaping, thanks to Sun Liao's knowledge.
Very slowly, Cao Yun came closer to Emperor Weide. The young man could literally see his younger sister now. She was close enough for him to grab and hug her. At the same time, she was as far as she could be. He couldn't approach her at all, and she wouldn't even recognize him. It was clear that she would die fighting just to protect Emperor Weide. As soon as Cao Yun attacked Emperor Weide, she would also become his enemy. Pretending to protect the princess, Xiao Xuefeng would stop her from intervening at all, but she would see Cao Yun as her enemy. Honestly, he would cross that bridge later.
For now, Cao Yun unsealed his blood cultivation. It was very delicate as he was extremely close to a powerful 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Dian Mo himself helped Cao Yun. He positioned himself in the best possible spot to minimize his presence by using the array formations of the now sealed cultivation room.
Director Hua was stalling as much as she could with Xiao Xuefeng, giving instructions to Yong Ke on how best to use the medicinal essence of the pill. All the alchemists were about to help her fully absorb the medicinal essence. As such, they took as much time as they could getting ready and coordinating before she swallowed the pill. Obviously, their main goal was to prevent her from swallowing the pill because it would, most likely, ultimately kill her even if Cao Yun succeeded.
One by one, Cao Yun and Dian Mo unraveled all the seals they had created in order to hide his asura cultivation. Fortunately, Cao Yun had worked on sealing and unsealing his cultivation, so he knew how to do it expertly. However, doing so while being as stealthy as possible was absolutely nerve-wracking. Besides, he was also limited in time.
At last, the young man had his asura cultivation fully unsealed. This time, he reined in his human cultivation. He didn't seal it, he simply restrained his Soul Embryo. As long as Cao Yun had a powerful blood cultivation, everyone would obviously think he was a demon. To be fair, he was now the color of fresh blood, his hair was white all over his body, with deep black eyes and nails like talons. Of course, anyone would have automatically assumed he was a full-fledged demon. Although demons could look fully human, albeit with a few characteristics like darker reddish skin, they took a completely different appearance while unleashing their full blood cultivation.
Thanks to his 'Ashen Feather Seal', no one noticed Cao Yun's slow transformation. Neither did they notice Cao Yun at all, of course. But now, he was ready. He would have only one chance at a sneak attack. But he couldn't unleash anything until the very last moment. In other words, he couldn't prepare any attack, he had to strike with the maximum strength possible in his first technique. Sadly, Cao Yun couldn't use his 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' or even his 'Three Storms' as they could be recognized as human martial arts. Worse than that, the 'Three Storms' martial art would be identified as the Cao family's martial art. If Emperor Weide didn't recognize it, Jian Zhenli would.
Right now, all the guards were outside, leaving Emperor Weide and Yong Ke alone with the six alchemists. Cao Yun would never have a better opportunity. Since his usual martial arts were off-limits, he had to use something else. Within his body, Cao Yun focused his Black Heart Flame and his Solar-Orchid Flame, both directed by his Rune of Fire within the seed. He also circulated his Spear Heart and Sword Intent as much as he could. Fortunately, no one had seen his new spear. Unfortunately, he couldn't take it out without taking down his stealth. By the time Cao Yun would attack with his spear, Emperor Weide would have noticed him. Thankfully, he didn't need a spear to unleash his Spear Heart. However, it wouldn't be as powerful. Only someone mastering the Spear Spirit martial state could summon a weapon during an attack. Indeed, their Insight Writings would become the weapon, their very soul would be the spear.
Cao Yun was fascinated by martial arts, so he had a lot of them within himself. Besides, he was also very proficient in 'Axiu Qian's Blood Wrath', the martial art he had invented himself by observing Axiu Qian's memories. While using his asura cultivation, it was probably his strongest technique without any weapon.
Finally, Cao Yun circulated his soul cultivation, he turned a large part of his own Po into Death Energy and used it to strengthen his Turbid Demons. All seven of them were ready to annihilate all their enemies and anyone else standing in their way.
Like a tiger hiding in the grass, Cao Yun waited. All his muscles were tense, his mind and soul were solely focused on Emperor Weide. At a moment's notice, Cao Yun would jump on any opening he could exploit. If he had more time, Cao Yun would have waited for days before attacking. Even when Emperor Weide was unaware of his presence and of his hostility, Cao Yun could tell that the man before him was an absolute monster. He wasn't just a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, he was the strongest cultivator in the Hongchen Kingdom. If he had been younger, Sect Leader Xuan might have been able to contend for the title, but he was too old for that.
'Weeping Asura'! 'Axiu Qian's Blood Wrath'!
Suddenly, Cao Yun leapt forward. Everyone was terribly shocked. A powerful killing intent suddenly drowned the entire cultivation room. As it was sealed, the room trapped the killing intent, concentrating it even more. Even Xiao Xuefeng, Director Hua, and Feng Yingyue, who were expecting it, were surprised. It was as though they were all drowning in an ocean of burning blood. The lamentations of the dead, brutally slain on the battlefield, were calling for them to join them in death.
Cao Yun had focused his 'Weeping Asura' on Emperor Weide, but the bystanders felt this oppressive aura. So they could imagine what Emperor Weide was currently feeling. The Emperor was immobile. Everything happened so fast that no mere mortal could have reacted, but a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior should have been able to at least move around.
Cao Yun's fingers turned into a black spear made out of pure flames. Here and there, red flashes were visible and looked like blood flowing from a wound. With no hesitation at all, Cao Yun targeted Emperor Weide's head, he wanted to obliterate his Upper Dantian and his soul along with it.
All the alchemists could see a full-fledged asura who had appeared out of nowhere. As he was about to assassinate Emperor Weide, Yong Ke tried to rush to him, but Xiao Xuefeng quickly restrained her using her own spiritual senses. Yong Ke wasn't strong enough to resist her in such a short amount of time.
Cao Yun's fingers got closer and closer to Emperor Weide. For Cao Yun, it was as if time was at a standstill, but it was still moving forward, ever so slowly. At the tip of his fingers, Cao Yun used the principle behind 'The Son of Heaven's Cavalry'. As such, he focused everything he had on the tip of his spear. Since he had no spear, he used his fingers instead. With his powerful body, it would still be devastating. Besides, he was also using 'Dragon's Heart' internally. No one could deduce his martial arts from that as they were not visible at all.