Chapter 244: Ocean of Turbid Anguish

After the light subsided, Cao Yun could finally see where he was. He was on a ship flying in the sky. Looking all around, the ship was not very big. In the center of it, there was a room where four or five people could fit into. From his understanding of plants, he also recognized the wood used, Enlightened Sandalwood. Such a wood was a great conduit for spiritual senses and Qi alike. As such, it was often used to create artifacts.

With this wood, the ship could both fly with more ease as one would need less energy and concentration to maneuver it, but also protect the inhabitants from external threats. Just like the human body, this wood could produce Wei Qi to form some kind of protection all around itself. And with Cao Yun's perception, he was vividly feeling this Wei Qi all around him. But since the wood was dead, this Wei Qi had to come from someone, namely Huang Liyue.

Turning his head around, Cao Yun saw Huang Liyue's face distorted by both fatigue and pain. To fly in the sky, she had to use a tiny bit of her spiritual senses along with her Qi. But both her Soul Embryo and her meridians were wounded. Right now, she was clearly at the limit of what she could stand. Thankfully, this ship was able to enhance her spiritual senses so she could control it without putting too much strain on herself. Still, the pain was unbearable.

In fact, without the altered mind cultivation from Cao Yun, she would not have been able to keep this ship flying for so long. She would have probably already cracked. Right now, in her sea of consciousness, the two characters Po and Hun were extremely agitated. There were also five True Fiery Fenghuangs floating around. Her entire ocean was in turmoil and the sky was full of flames of all kinds of colors. The peacock wheel high in her sky was rotating with incredible speed.

Huang Liyue was pouring as little energy as necessary into her ship, the 'Feng Soaring Junk'. Considering her current condition, she knew that in a battle of attrition, she would ultimately lose. That was frustrating beyond belief to run away from someone who was so much weaker than her. But she could not win this fight, not under those conditions. Besides, she had sworn to protect Cao Yun who had saved her life. No matter what her personal feelings were, she would never renege on her own words. Despite Can Mouye's words that had indeed troubled her, she still decided to protect the young man.

Apparently, she had been duped by the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and Cao Yun was not 'Chen Guo'. Most likely, Chen Guo had never existed in the first place. For an instant, Huang Liyue wondered whether her young mistress knew of this. But thinking about her, the bodyguard was convinced that this young girl had known for a long time. She always seemed to know more than everyone else in the room, whether this was true or just airs she was putting on.

Behind the 'Feng Soaring Junk', Can Mouye was flying on the back of a Mountain Fenghuang skeleton. And further behind him, the Evil Heavenly Buddha was still smiling and floating toward the ship. His thousands of arms were producing various mudra. Among them, one of his hands pointed to the sky. Quickly, some kind of disk condensed itself from Evil Qi. Its mere rotation was so fast that it produced a strident sound that was heard all the way to the 'Feng Soaring Junk'.

Hearing this, Cao Yun looked back while protecting his ears. That was when he finally saw the Mountain Fenghuang. As soon as he laid eyes on it, he recognized the bone structure. This skeleton was indeed Huang'er's corpse. With his keen senses, he also saw that they had been preserved through various processes. Apparently, each bone had also been covered in some kind of dust, probably related to Death Energy. The entire skeleton appeared to be pure white, but here and there there were some taints of yellow. Of course, it reminded Cao Yun of the Bone Demons, but this was different.

From what Cao Yun had seen, the bones from the Bone Demons were physical manifestations of Death Energy. That was why they were all fighting to steal them from one another. Those bones however were the real bones of Huang'er. Cao Yun had never heard of any technique that could reanimate a corpse. Either this was a technique known by demonic cultivators, which was highly possible, or this had been taught to him by the master he had called Cleansed Asura. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Cao Yun was still harboring doubts on whether Can Mouye had been talking about the true Cleansed Asura. Even if he had all the memories from the real one, this entity could still be something else, there were several possibilities. Until he knew for sure, Cao Yun would reserve his judgment.

What really made Cao Yun choose such an approach was the fact that Cleansed Asura, although lethally wounded, used to be a God-Monarch. If they were fighting against him, they would probably die, no matter how weakened he could be. In fact, Cleansed Asura could have completely erased his mind the first time he had met him.

Putting all that aside, Cao Yun was now more determined than ever. Seeing the body of Huang'er being defiled in such a way and being used by the very man who had killed her enraged him. For once, he did not use his mind cultivation to calm himself. He didn't want to calm himself. That poor mother had sacrificed herself to protect her unborn child. She did not deserve to be treated as an object by this demonic cultivator. One way or another, Cao Yun would kill this man. Even without considering Huang'er's fate, Cao Yun would have been forced to kill Can Mouye, both to simply survive but also to silence him because he seemed to know his real identity. But none of those reasons were in his mind right now.

The only thing Cao Yun was thinking about was a mother protecting her child. In his mind, Huang'er and his own mother shared the same tragic death. Watching Huang'er suffer even after death was unbearable in such circumstances. Unfortunately, he was still too weak. Even now that he was a 9th-grade Mortal, he remained too weak.

But his enemies would not wait for him to grow. Cao Yun had to become stronger as fast as possible. He had decided to fight against the demonic cultivators to protect the entire human race. But for that, he needed strength!

This rage in him did not affect the Drop of Wrath at all. After all that had happened, Cao Yun finally seemed to have absolute control over that Drop of Wrath. And as his mind cultivation would progress, he would slowly strengthen it and make it fully his. For now though, this was still a foreign object.

On the other hand, his Zhi shined brighter and brighter. His will had reached a new height. Until very recently, Cao Yun looked down on himself because he was unable to take decisions quickly. Now, in an instant, he had taken one. No matter what would happen, he would kill Can Mouye and destroy his corpse. If he could, he would even want to annihilate his very soul. Before leaving this place, Can Mouye would be no more, not a single trace of him would remain. As he thought like that, a tremor gently shook his Upper Dantian in the region of the Chamber of Heavenly Court.

From Zhi the Will Water, some black light shined inside this very chamber. Although he had not energized it yet, it was becoming more active. In a sense, it was as though a veil of fog had lifted. That decision just now was one of the strongest determinations Cao Yun had ever had since the death of his family. His rage also resonated with the Drop of Wrath. And unlike what had happened previously, the Drop of Wrath strengthened Cao Yun instead of getting out of control.

-

Huang Liyue knew this place because she had mapped an area as large as the Wu Province in the three or four months she had been here. Not only had she observed the geographical and geological aspects of those places, she had also witnessed the behavior of the Bone Demons. Seeing the skeleton of the Mountain Fenghuang, Huang Liyue's blood immediately told her what kind of demonic beast it used to be. And with Cao Yun holding a Mountain Fenghuang, it was obvious that that skeleton was either the father or the mother of that egg. But although it was not a Bone Demon, Huang Liyue hoped that it still behaved similarly to one.

There was one spot the Bone Demons seemed to fear. Toward the yellow water, they seemed to harbor both fear and awe. However, there was a place that they clearly feared without any awe at all. Right now, she was going there at full speed, hoping for her idea to work. There was a giant body of water, probably an ocean, made of pure black water. Even her spiritual senses had failed to go deep into it as it was literally made of Evil Qi. Contrary to the rain, this black water was made solely of Evil Qi without any trace of Death Energy.

For this very reason, Huang Liyue had been reluctant to explore this ocean. If even the Bone Demons were terrified of it and avoided it, there had to be a good reason. What could terrify those creatures would probably not be a good thing. But right now, she had no choice. Hopefully, whatever scared the Bone Demons would not be a threat to living humans.

Both Cao Yun and Can Mouye quickly realized where she was going. Indeed, Cao Yun had seen her map and Can Mouye had been informed by his new master. While Cao Yun was completely silent and had no special thoughts on that place, Can Mouye became agitated. He had to get rid of them before they could go too far into the black ocean. Fortunately, he had been preparing an attack for some time now. Hovering over an index finger of the Evil Heavenly Buddha, there was now a brilliant wooden wheel. All around its circumference, it was full of spikes and there were several spokes keeping it together. The entire wheel was very intricately chiseled.

'The Wheel of Life Ends All Sufferings'.

With an incredibly slow movement, the Evil Heavenly Buddha stretched his arm. Once his arm was fully extended, the wheel flew out, toward Huang Liyue's flying ship. A strange phenomenon occurred. Although the wheel was slower than a walking man, it had already appeared near the 'Feng Soaring Junk'. It was as though space meant nothing to it. Or maybe it had distorted Cao Yun's senses. Right now, it was impossible to say for sure. But one thing was certain, the ship was in danger.

As that so-called Wheel of Life was close to him, Cao Yun felt his soul being assaulted by it. Obviously, it was no match for his mind cultivation though. Both Hun and Po were protected by the fires of Shen and even the Drop of Wrath fought off the impact of that Wheel of Life. On the other hand, Huang Liyue was greatly diminished by her wounds and her current efforts to maneuver the ship. With the Wheel of Life so close to her, an intense pain radiated from her soul within her Soul Embryo.

Then, the Wheel of Life collided with the 'Feng Soaring Junk'. The pain had distracted Huang Liyue and weakened the Wei Qi of the ship. A first tremor completely shook the entire ship but the Wheel of Life was not able to collide directly with the ship. Its Wei Qi had still protected it. But it had weakened Huang Liyue even more.

"Senior Huang, please listen to reason. I plead to you. Even if you stay stubborn, you will accomplish nothing. Not only will the young boy die anyway, but you will also die with him for no reason at all. Do not throw your life away, please, Senior."

Can Mouye tried to put sincerity in his words, but they sounded shallow to Huang Liyue. Anyway, she had made her mind and she would not deviate from it. Even if she were to die here, she had already some ideas to try and make sure that Cao Yun stayed alive. Without him, she would have died some time ago. Deep down, she was trying to convince herself that she was acting solely out of duty because she had sworn to protect him and that her own young mistress had instructed her to as well. But she had to admit that she was also curious of what this young man would accomplish in the future.

Losing such a prodigy would be an immense loss for the human race. Although he had spilled Huang blood, he was a disciple of the Wubei Sect. So he would later become a pillar of the Hongchen Kingdom. Moreover, if he formed some relation with Huang Cixi, not only would the Huang family be strengthened, but the entire humanity would soar to new heights as well.

No matter what happened, Cao Yun had to stay alive!

"Chen Guo, hide inside!"

Seeing the distress on Huang Liyue's face, Cao Yun obeyed right away. The poor woman was risking her very soul to protect him. He would not disregard her commands.

The moment he entered the small room at the center of the flying ship, he saw that Huang Liyue had prepared enough food for him to survive at least ten years. Most of the food was dried and could be conserved for a very long time. This would not be very enjoyable, but by eating only what was vital, Cao Yun could indeed survive at least ten years with those. It was apparent that Huang Liyue had already imagined that she could die. As such, she had prepared to make sure that Cao Yun would live. Understanding her determination, the young man was sincerely touched.

Outside of the room, Huang Liyue had finally reached the Ocean of Turbid Anguish. This ominous ocean that was as dark as the veil they had crossed to get into this dead world paradoxically brought hope to the bodyguard. Indeed, it was very subtle but Can Mouye's speed decreased a little. Although he had to kill Cao Yun, he was afraid of this place.

But his attacks did not relent. In fact, it became even fiercer. The Wheel of Life was still manifested and it collided with the 'Feng Soaring Junk' again and again. Can Mouye had ceased to try to convince Huang Liyue. Right now, he was clearly trying to eradicate her along with Cao Yun.