In their exchange, Cao Yun could clearly tell that he was at a disadvantage even with Emperor Weide's injury. In his last technique, he simply couldn't suppress his 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars'. However, he couldn't expose it, or he would reveal himself as Chen Guo. If he revealed his 'Three Storms', he would expose himself as Cao Yun. In a sense, he was fighting with one hand tied up behind his back. Thankfully, Emperor Weide's injury was also affecting him, and he was unable to use his right arm. Otherwise, Cao Yun would have been in an even worse situation.
Fortunately, Cao Yun could use other techniques. As such, he was now focusing on his Rune of Fire within the Solar-Orchid Flame seed. Pushing his 'Living Death' as far as he could, most of his Po turned into Death Energy and fed his Black Heart Flame. All over his spear, the dark skeleton of the dragon let out terrifying black flames that seemed to come from the land of the dead. The wailing of thousands upon thousands of tormented souls echoed throughout the entire Everlasting Earth Palace. The air turned so cold that everyone could see their own breath. Some weaker cultivators and even a few mortals working as servants sincerely believed that they had died.
From within Cao Yun's sea of consciousness, his seven Turbid Demons were overexcited. Their chains were rattling while they were fending off the golden aura of the Emperor. On the other hand, the imperial chants from Emperor Weide's three seals were becoming fainter and quieter. Even their words were being deformed by the eerie atmosphere all around the palace. However, Emperor Weide's golden aura was still pushing against this cold intent. Around him alone, the air was still warm and welcoming.
Unfortunately, Cao Yun hadn't master 'Soul Chains' yet. He could tell that he was so close, but still so far at the same time. As such, he employed another technique he had derived from the 'Death Verses', blending it with his 'Axiu Qian's Blood Wrath'.
'Death Splintering Palm'!
Cao Yun's palm turned into a white skeleton hand, covered in black flames and green moss here and there. In his mind, the young man couldn't stop himself from seeing a Bone Demon. To be fair, using all this Death Energy meant that Cao Yun was close to an actual Bone Demon. Evil Qi was emanating from him and was corroding the Qi in the environment as well. The young man thought back on the small Bone Demon in his spatial ring. Maybe he should have studied it more. He might have been able to push his understanding of 'Death Verses' through such a study. However, he had decided to push his Qi cultivation, which he simply couldn't use...
'Cutting the Retreat'!
Using his Concept of Wind, Cao Yun moved so fast that he caused several sonic booms. Within his movement, one could faintly see a bit of electricity, but Cao Yun had not used his full martial arts in this movement. The next instant, he was by Emperor Weide's side. He stabbed forward with his spear in a very normal strike. Thanks to his Spear Heart, it was much deadlier than any spear move.
Emperor Weide was barely able to follow Cao Yun's movement, but he was able to do so. By the time Cao Yun struck him, he saw the maw of a terrifying and disgusting skeleton dragon. The Black Heart Flame around it almost looked like rotten flesh that was falling off its bones. Emperor Weide did not move from his spot at all. Instead, he chanted a mantra.
'Edict of Unavoidable Duty'!
One of the seals behind him flew right toward Cao Yun, it completely flew by the spear and reached for the young man. Dozens of flying swords tried to block it, but they were all broken apart by the radiant aura of the seal. However, it didn't attack Cao Yun. Instead, it let out a golden hue, and the young man heard the words of Emperor Nuwa herself. He couldn't make out the exact words, but he knew they were spoken by Emperor Nuwa, the founder of the Hongchen Kingdom. As the chant was echoing through the air, Cao Yun was losing his will to fight. He had to push his Turbid Demons further and further, he had to stoke his own rage, his own hatred, just to fight it back. As a result, his attack got weaker and weaker.
Suddenly, Emperor Weide moved.
'Duty-Inscribing Cut'!
The Emperor's sword turned into pure silvery light. It was surrounded by his spiritual senses. In fact, it was quite literally made of his spiritual senses since it was a spiritual weapon. Instead of cutting flesh and bone, this sword could slice apart one's soul. And slice it did. Emperor Weide went straight for Cao Yun's neck. He avoided the spear that was slower and weaker for an instant. His body shifted forward, and his sword went for his opponent's neck.
The 'Seal of Crushing Duty' was ordering Cao Yun to let himself be slain by this holy sword. He was evil incarnate and had to let the world purify him. Cao Yun was the enemy of all mankind. Seeing death come to him, the young man felt as though it was natural, he deserved it. Maybe he shouldn't try to fight it off. There was no use in fighting...
"Boy!!!"
Dian Mo's voice echoed throughout Cao Yun's mind. Suddenly, he moved his spear. Since Emperor Weide was so close to him, he had almost no momentum, but he swept his 'Dark Abyss Wrathful Serpent Spear' toward him nonetheless. His muscles bulged as Cao Yun poured most of his Golden Blood into his arms and back. The powerful spear didn't strike Emperor Weide, it only pushed him. But it was enough to mess up his own attack. Without a moment's delay, Cao Yun flew far from the 'Seal of Crushing Duty'. Even away from it, the young man could hear the world itself condemning him for his very existence. Instead of letting it get him down, he used it to fuel his rage. Emperor Weide was the traitor, the demonic cultivator. Cao Yun was the one who would slay the worst traitor of mankind.
'Mandate-Carrying Step'!
Despite being pushed by an intense force, Emperor Weide moved and found himself in the perfect position to strike back. As Cao Yun had just escaped his blow, Emperor Weide stabbed toward him with his silvery sword. It was as fast as lightning. Cao Yun, who was still fighting off the mental effects of his seal, wasn't fast enough to completely dodge it. Even with his spear to try to parry the attack, the sword did hit him. It lacerated his shoulder. Although the injury wasn't much, the young man could feel it in his very soul.
In fact, from his shoulder, a piercing pain was spreading, trying to get to his Upper Dantian. Cao Yun had no doubt that its target was his Soul Embryo. He circulated his Golden Blood with the intent of the Drop of Wrath. The Drop of Wrath reacted to the poisonous soul within his shoulder. Axiu Qian's rage overwhelmed it and crushed it before literally devouring it.
In the distance, Emperor Weide's face grimaced. He could feel some of his spiritual senses being devoured by the demon. The Emperor could tell that he had the advantage when it came to martial arts. But this demon's soul was much stronger than he had imagined. Considering his current injury, he wasn't sure he could slay him. Worse than that, if the demon escaped, he might join forces with Empyrean Asura next time. No matter what, Emperor Weide had to kill it, or at the very least, injure it severely. Unfortunately, he couldn't go all-out. First of all, he was injured. But more than that, Emperor Weide could feel Yong Ke's presence down below. Jian Zhenli and Xiao Xuefeng were protecting her, but she was still in danger.
Emperor Weide couldn't let Yong Ke be injured. He absolutely needed her to become a Sage. Were he a Sage, he could slaughter this demon with little effort. A thought came to Emperor Weide, though. The demon had been spying on him, so he had to have at least guessed his purpose. However, the demon had never targeted Yong Ke. When he had first attacked, if he had killed Yong Ke, the Hongchen Kingdom would be doomed. Without a Sage, Emperor Weide knew that they couldn't fight off the Empyrean Asura Theocracy for long. They might survive a few years, maybe decades, but they would lose and be exterminated. There was something odd going on here. Maybe the demon was here to capture her. Maybe they had found out about her Soul Embryo. Maybe the demons themselves could use her to break the curse of the Forsaken Dao Era.
That didn't make sense either. Indeed, if it had been the demon's goal, he would have grabbed her by surprise and left. Emperor Weide wouldn't have risked her life, so the demon would have had a chance. The more he thought, the more Emperor Weide wanted to know the origin and goal of this demon. Was it even possible for the Empyrean Asura Theocracy to have hidden such a powerful demon all this time without him being on any battlefield? Would Empyrean Asura tolerate another 9th-grade Accomplished Demon?
Doubts were assaulting Emperor Weide's mind. Unfortunately, capturing the demon alive would be difficult. To be fair, killing a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon might in fact be harder. Usually, capturing someone was easier than killing them. But as one cultivated, it changed. Indeed, the demon could easily regenerate his body, so killing him was clearly harder than capturing him. The main problem was, of course, to keep him captured...
As Cao Yun's rage erupted, he flew straight for Emperor Weide. This time, he let everything out. His spear went for the Emperor's heart. The silver sword collided with the shaft just as Cao Yun let go of his own weapon. The next instant, the young man was right in front of Emperor Weide, who was still feeling the shock of the spear through his sword into his arm. Cao Yun punched the chest of the Emperor. Despite his armor, a vibration went through his flesh and attacked his heart and lungs. The pain was intense, but his blood and Qi canceled the vibrations.
Cao Yun's hand grabbed the wounded shoulder of the Emperor, crushing it as much as he could through the armor. Although the pain wasn't much, it wasn't pleasant. Still, Emperor Weide pushed through the pain and tried to stab Cao Yun with his sword. However, the young man was simply too close to him, their two bodies weren't far enough apart for his sword to be put between them. In fact, Cao Yun's other hand grabbed Emperor Weide under his left arm and lifted it up. Then, he grabbed as strongly as possible, literally denting Ren Chao's masterpiece.
The next moment, his knee flew right into Emperor Weide's ribs. The violence of the impact was enough to make him drop his sword. Thanks to Ren Chao, Cao Yun knew where the weaknesses of Emperor Weide's armor were. Using the pain as a distraction, Cao Yun was able to take off the two shoulder guards. Emperor Weide realized what the demon was trying to do. First of all, he was astonished that he was even able to do so. Putting on and taking off the armor were extremely difficult. But Cao Yun seemed to know exactly what to do after seeing his armor for only a few moments. Maybe the demon had been spying on him for a very long time without him noticing at all. It froze his blood.
Emperor Weide quickly recovered. His sword disappeared back into his sea of consciousness. With all of his strength, he punched Cao Yun right in the throat. The young man was forced to let go of Emperor Weide's arm to block it. His forearm was broken in two as Emperor Weide's punch struck it. Of course, it was already healing. But it gave the Emperor enough time to kick Cao Yun and fly back.
'Seal of Harmonized Execution'!
Cao Yun was still very close to the Emperor so the 'Seal of Absolute Unity' and the 'Seal of Destiny Threads' flew quickly over his head. Suddenly, Cao Yun felt himself surrounded by ten thousand sword intents. Everywhere around him, swords were ready to slice him apart. Then, Emperor Weide's Sword Spirit emerged anew. In a simple movement, the entire world turned into a hurricane of sword intents all targeted at Cao Yun. There was no possible escape. There was no possible survival.
Emperor Weide's sword stabbed forward in a very straightforward fashion. There was nothing fancy. This was the most perfect sword movement with no embellishment at all. Cao Yun felt completely trapped.
'Wrathful Asura's Chest'!
All around Cao Yun, black scales appeared, made out of Black Heart Flame and Death Energy. The sword intents collided with the scales. The violence of the impact was so intense that the young man felt his internal organs shake. Despite the violence of the attack, Cao Yun was much more worried by the Sword Spirit of Emperor Weide. As such, he put both his arms between himself and the attack. His broken forearm wasn't fully healed yet, but it was good enough.
At the same time, Cao Yun circulated his Sword Intent and his Spear Heart. His connection with his sword was faint because of this 'Seal of Harmonized Execution'. But several swords did fly toward Cao Yun in a desperate attempt to protect him. On the other hand, his 'Dark Abyss Wrathful Serpent Spear' came to him almost immediately. After all, it was a 1-star Spirit weapon forged by Ren Chao. Cao Yun felt a deep connection with the Ebony Snake Dragon within the spear.
Once he got the spear back in hand, Cao Yun could already feel that several of his organs were ruptured. He was bleeding internally. Thankfully, he could control the flow of his own heavy Golden Blood. But Cao Yun knew that he had no chance of getting out of this in one piece. He would survive the attack, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to fight back for very long. Without his full martial arts, there was simply no hope. Escaping was still a viable option. On the other hand, revealing his martial arts meant endangering all the people who had helped him until now.