Chapter 472: Burning Imperial Palace

In half a dozen provinces, villages had been annihilated and covered in a spider's web made out of pulsating blood tendrils. Those had been nourished by the blood of all the humans inhabiting said villages. Of course, they had been produced by humans like Cang Yin and Sha Diyi, hybrids between demons and humans sent to weaken the Hongchen Kingdom. Even Sha Diyi herself wouldn't have known what those things were. Each agent had any information besides what they required for their specific mission. Even if they had been found out earlier, this wouldn't have changed many things.

Indeed, even if the administration of the Subei Province and the Hongchen Kingdom had been faster in their interrogation of Cang Yin, they wouldn't have been able to prevent it. However, they would have found out about the infiltration. And they might have taken different actions. Unfortunately, bureaucracy had taken over. And now, many people were going to pay for that. And as always, those who would pay wouldn't be the one who had made the mistake...

From each of those bloody webs, a strange pulse was being emitted. Slowly, the web contracted itself more and more. The blood was getting darker and darker. It took several hours. Gradually, the entire web turned into some kind of orb with only a few tendrils keeping it levitating above the ground. And at the very center of the web turned into that orb, an ominous light was shining. Around the orb, there was a strange bloody hue. It was as though there was a blood stain in the air, almost as if space itself was somehow bleeding.

In the village of the Sunmen Province, something finally happened almost a day after everyone was killed. An arm pierced through the center of the bloody orb. Clad in thick metallic armor, that arm had sharp claws and it was completely covered in the blood that made this orb. With extreme effort, the arm broke the surface of the orb. Then, another one joined it. Those two thick arms were terrifying. Space itself cowered as the air around the orb began to shake and quiver. The metallic claws at the end of those arms grabbed each side of the opened orb. As they pushed them away from each other, the arms caused some kind of rift to appear in the air. They were literally tearing apart space. A lot of blood flowed to the ground as the orb was completely destroyed by now.

With tremendous force, the armored claws spread the rift open. Finally the shape of the one tearing apart space appeared. It was a demon entirely covered in armor. Although his face was masked by his helmet, he seemed to be a man. And the aura around him was unmistakably the aura of a 7th-grade Accomplished Demon. This was the equivalent of a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior. His Demon Soul was almost complete. Indeed, in each grade of the Accomplished Demon realm, one would turn one aspect of one's Po into a Turbid Demon. Right now, that demon had turned six of his seven Po into Turbid Demon to form his Demon Soul.

Behind him, there were around a dozen demons. They were all clad in their war armors and each of them was an Accomplished Demon. Thankfully, the one leading them was the strongest of the group, by far. The others were all beneath 5th-grade Accomplished Demon. Even then, and despite their armors, it was clear that they were in horrendous pain. Walking through a rift in space wasn't something easily done. Besides, they had opened it without much knowledge of the Dao of Space. In itself, it was incredible. But this was also something they wouldn't be able to do often. For that invasion, they had prepared for decades if not centuries.

Despite his strength, the 7th-grade Accomplished Demon was barely able to keep the rift open for more than two breaths. In that time, all the other demons ran forward hoping to get out of this rift before it could collapse. When his strength finally gave out, their leader jumped forward. Two Accomplished Demons were literally cut in half when the rift closed on them. But nine middle Accomplished Demons had crossed over into the Hongchen Kingdom. The same thing happened in all the provinces where that bloody network had appeared.

In one of the provinces though, this didn't go quite as well. The late Accomplished Demon who tried to open the rift got his first arm in. But when he tried to push his second arm in, the resistance was too much. The orb ended up exploding in a gush of blood. The Accomplished Demon's arms were completely torn apart as space was deformed. Even the demons behind him were shredded into mangled corpses by the ripples through space. Playing around with the Dao of Space without understanding anything of it wasn't so easy.

Still, in total, around fifty Accomplished Demons had crossed over from the Empyrean Asura Theocracy into the Hongchen Kingdom. Although they were clearly outmatched by the Spirit Warriors of humanity, for the time being, no one even knew they had appeared. Indeed, the array formations around the Hongchen Kingdom would warn everyone if a demon tried to cross them. However, they had completely bypassed those defenses by using a strange technique of the ancient time.

-

Back in the Imperial City, Cao Yun had taken care of Sha Diyi's corpse. Just to be safe, he took her corpse in his spatial ring. With Xiao Xuefeng, he could make sure that there was no proof left behind in her body. Indeed, Cao Yun didn't want to expose himself. Although the situation was critical right now, he had to think about the future. Paradoxically, this could be a very good opportunity. The demons wanted to use the chaos caused by the demonic cultivators. But Cao Yun could also use the chaos caused by both of them. For now, his main goal was to get to Xiao Xuefeng to tell her everything he had just learned. Besides, he now had absolute proof that Xue Gulin had ordered his assassination. He could kill him without any problem if he ever met him.

After that, his other goal had not changed at all. He wanted to know who Yong Ke really was. Since the demonic cultivators intended to attack the Imperial Palace, he had every legitimate reason to go there and meet her again. Moreover, he might be able to see through her veil during the fights.

Cao Yun jumped out of the cloud of Blind Serpent Dust. The Purple Leafed Belladonna had not affected him at all. More than his cultivation, it had been thanks to Tree of Death's book. Chief Elder Meng had been useful once more. Without his knowledge, Cao Yun would have not identified the poison so fast. In fact, he might have failed to realize he was being poisoned before too much of it had entered his bloodstream. Thankfully, his blood was much heavier and well under his control. The poison had barely been able to spread and Cao Yun had burned everything in the end.

In the air, Hongyu flew right under Cao Yun, taking him on her back. Technically, flying was forbidden, but the situation had changed. In the distance, Cao Yun could already see several fires. There were thick columns of black smoke rising all over the Imperial Palace. With his senses, Cao Yun could see a few cultivators in the street. Just by their clothes and the weapons they were wielding, there was no doubt that they were demonic cultivators. Besides, they were already attacking and killing people all over the place. Thankfully, the guards had been summoned. In the streets, Cao Yun recognized the armors of the 2nd and 3rd Imperial Brocade Guards.

And in the sky above the Imperial Palace, at least twenty middle to late Spirit Warriors were flying toward the main palace, the Everlasting Earth Palace. It was the palace built by Emperor Nuwa. Across the eras, it had been modified and even rebuilt many times, but some of the core elements of the Everlasting Earth Palace had remained. Among all the buildings of the Hongchen Kingdom, it was probably the most sacred one. No one could have imagined that it would be under attack, and by humans no less.

Of course, Spirit Warriors from the two Imperial Brocade Guards had soared into the sky to meet the aggressors. On the other hand, the 1st Imperial Brocade Guards were waiting around the Everlasting Earth Palace. They were the last line of defense against any attack on the Imperial Palace. Beyond them, there was only Emperor Weide left. The 1st Imperial Brocade Guards were the most elite fighters in the army of the Imperial City. They were only twelve but they could probably fight even a 1st-grade Sage thanks to their coordination. However, they had almost never been seen in action by anyone. Thankfully, they had never needed to act. Today would be different though.

Among the flying demonic cultivators, Cao Yun realized that the Demon King was not there. Indeed, he was a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun would have been able to spot him in an instant. That meant that this attack was not yet the full might of the demonic cultivators.

Looking at the absolute chaos, Cao Yun had to make a decision. If he simply flew in there with Hongyu, they would become targets. Worse than that, they would probably be attacked by all. The guards couldn't be sure who Cao Yun and Hongyu were with while the demonic cultivators would know. Within this chaos, the guards would not ask any question. If they saw a flying demonic beast, they might attack on sight. Thus, Cao Yun decided to use his stealth technique. Since it had been created by Huang Liyue to be used with the bloodline of the True Fiery Fenghuang, it should go well with Hongyu.

Indeed, as soon as Cao Yun produced the ashes of his technique, they naturally entered Hongyu's body. Mixed with her blood, the technique became even better than before. Along his travels, Cao Yun had tried it out several times. As long as they didn't fly to fast, the two of them would not be discovered. However, they would enter a fight between Spirit Warriors. Of course, their senses would be focused. Thus, Cao Yun and Hongyu had only one solution. They flew as low as they could, sometimes even grazing the ground to avoid any detection by the flying cultivators.

As they were going straight toward Xiao Xuefeng's residence, Cao Yun killed several demonic cultivators. They had no way to react. In fact, none of them even felt Cao Yun's presence. From Hongyu's back, he simply threw some of the knives he had taken from Sha Diyi. They were still covered in poison. And with Cao Yun's strength, they easily pierced the defenses of any middle Mortal Warrior. But he had a very ominous feeling. The attacks he was seeing seemed too random. He couldn't see what their plan was. And that worried him a lot.

Cao Yun even asked Dian Mo what he thought about this. Despite his vast knowledge of array formations, the Palace Spirit couldn't see any logic behind their actions. That probably meant that all of that was just some form of distraction for them to prepare an even bigger attack. For now, the Imperial Palace had not even activated any defense. In other words, they knew that something else was coming so they decided not to waste too much of their strength against the vanguard.

While they were flying in the streets, many explosions occurred in the sky above. Each time, powerful shockwave made the buildings below shake. A few structures even collapsed. Some of the attacks crashed against the buildings as well. Under all those shocks, the pavement had been completely wrecked. And Hongyu and Cao Yun were forced to use their Wei Qi in order to resist those shocks. Even mere mortals had been out on the streets, they would most likely have had several broken bones just from the shocks of the fights above them.

Cao Yun and Hongyu had almost reached Xiao Xuefeng's residence when they felt an intense pressure on them. Before they could completely react, a powerful palm crushed them to the ground below. In a desperate effort, Cao Yun activated his 'Dragon's Chest'. All around the two of them, the scales of the Azure Dragon appeared. Above them though, the palm was the size of Hongyu herself. It was made of pure Evil Qi and on its center, there was a character made out of fire, an inferior version of the Black Heart Flame Cao Yun had stolen from Gu Song. That palm belonged to a 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior.

Despite all of Cao Yun's strength, his Qi Manifestation collapsed in an instant. Unfortunately, that 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior had not bee fighting in the sky but on the ground. Just as Cao Yun's defenses exploded, Evil Qi rushed inside his body. If he had been a normal Mortal Warrior, he would have been sentenced to death at that moment. Thankfully, Evil Qi wasn't a problem at all for him. In fact, it was even quite nourished to his blood. Still, he felt the shock of the Evil Qi forcefully entering his body. If his acupoints and his Five Prodigious Gates had not been adequately tempered, they would have ruptured.

Cao Yun's worries went to Hongyu first. She had survived the shock and her body had not been affected too much. However, the Evil Qi was being swallowed by her evil core. This could risk to destroy the balance she had established between her forming fifth core and this evil core. If that were to happen, she might die if too much Evil Qi was released at once. An instant later, her body slammed against the ground below. One of her wings was broken because of the angle of her fall, and she spit out some blood. Unlike Cao Yun, Hongyu had absolutely no chance even against a half-step Spirit Warrior. After all, she was still technically a 4-core demonic beast, her cultivation was as powerful as a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. With her evil core and her forming fifth core, she might fight against a 4th or even 5th-grade Mortal Warrior, but no one stronger than that.