Chapter 488: Braving the sandstorm
Now that Hongyu had mostly recovered, Cao Yun had a choice to make. They could either try to dig their way out of this sandstorm or go outside to do the same. Since he knew close to nothing about this place apart from the fact that this seemed to be a dune desert, he couldn't know for sure which way was safer. Of course, by digging beneath the sand, he might be able to avoid the sandstorm, but he would also maybe miss on key details to orientate himself even with his compass. On the other hand, there could be dangerous demonic beasts in the sand, or in the sandstorm as well.
Cao Yun had already spent a lot of time in different underground structures. He still remembered what had happened to his friends when they had encountered Soul Weaving Cyrtophora in the Lunar Marsh. To be honest, he didn't quite like the idea of spending potentially days or even weeks buried underground with no idea what kind of creatures or threats were in this place.
On the other hand, he was familiar with raging storms. After all, he had walked through the eight li of the Howling Crane Gorges back in the Wubei Sect. Besides, he had just formed the Horn Constellation and his understanding of 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' was getting better and better. All things considered, he decided to go on foot. After all, if things were too difficult, he could always go hide underground at any point.
Because he had been trapped in that bleeding space, Cao Yun's awareness of the time that had passed was confused. As he had literally been in a place without space, he had no idea what impact this would have on the flow of time. Back in the Yellow Death World, time had been synchronous. But from books he had read, he knew that there existed some dimensions where time was different and altering space had the potential to also alter the flow of time. Maybe he had only spent a few days in that bleeding space. Or he might have spent several years in there. His first order of business was to try to figure that out because it would have a huge impact on his course of action.
In order to achieve that result, he had to first find some people, well, some demons. Indeed, there was no denying that he was deep in demon territory right now. Thankfully though, he wasn't near the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. In fact, since he was on the opposite of the side of the planet, he was the furthest away from both the Hongchen Kingdom and their neighbors. Unfortunately, that also meant that going back there would be very difficult. Not only would the travel be long, he would also cross many hostile lands. Thus, he had to garner information. For that, he would need to deal with demons.
Since Dian Mo was still in a state of deep sleep, Cao Yun would be forced to improvise. Without his help, he had no way of performing any kind of Soul Memory Search. Thankfully he knew how to speak Moshenhua and had even learned a few dialects from Dian Mo. On that front he should be fine. However, he had little knowledge of their culture and politics. But to be fair, Dian Mo had been trapped in the Palace of Supreme Wisdom since a period when Demon God Da Mo still ruled the planet. He probably didn't know much about current demon cultures, especially not the culture of this place.
Anyway, because he had that in mind, Cao Yun first decided to completely hide his meridians. He would need to showcase his blood cultivation. One thing was certain to him, flaunting one's blood and bloodline among demons was a good thing. They respected strength even more than humans, and blood in particular. In that matter, they were close to families like the Huang family, but they could push it to an extreme. Thus, the young man used 'Ashen Feather Seal' to completely coat his meridian and his entire Qi system. Thanks to his rich blood, this wouldn't be much of a problem for him to still use most of his strength. In fact, he was going to work on that by braving the sandstorm with his spear.
When he was ready to leave his small cave, Cao Yun focused on his Neck Star. This specific star was related to grounding positions and had two moves, 'The Moon Grounds the Sun' and 'Imperial Throne'. The former was about grounding oneself firmly to then perform many other techniques and developing great explosive strength. The latter was a defensive technique that could generate a powerful wall of wind all around the user thanks to the rotation of the spear. By using his understanding of those two techniques, Cao Yun did not use Qi Manifestation at all. His mere Spear Aura was enough to make him very dangerous.
A cone of wind pierced through the packed sand above Cao Yun's head. It was immediately thrown around by the violent sandstorm. On the other hand, Cao Yun was very stable. With his spear in hand, he looked like a small pillar deeply rooted in the ground. But he didn't stay immobile. To the contrary, he used his Horn Constellation to unleash a powerful stab in front of him, freeing a small corridor without any violent winds. Before the wind could reform itself, Cao Yun looked at his compass to try and find any indication of where he should go.
Unfortunately, the young man saw nothing special. Thus, he simply decided that he would follow the same direction all the time. Hopefully it would bring him out of this sandstorm. After all, it couldn't be raging indefinitely in all directions.
While Cao Yun was progressing forward, he was holding his spear in order to form some kind of cone around him. From time to time, he unleashed an attack when the winds were too violent. During all this time, Hongyu was following him. Ironically, the fact that she was bigger now was both a benefit and a hindrance. Indeed, she was more resistant to the violent winds and wouldn't be so easily thrown around this time. But it also meant that she had more surface that the sandstorm could attack. Even behind Cao Yun, she had a hard time hiding herself and was frequently struck by the burning sand and some times some rocks.
A few times, Cao Yun was forced to deal with large pieces of rock. Once, he hid himself, even going back beneath the sand. But most of the times, he could destroy the piece of rock with 'The Son of Heaven's Cavalry'.
As he was walking forward, Cao Yun accumulated even more Fire Qi. He could also feel a strong killing intent all around him, but he wasn't sure whether this was due to the sandstorm itself. Since he was in demon territory, this might just be because of the demons, he would have to make sure of that. At the same time, he was advancing his understanding of the way of the spear. This really reminded him of what he had faced in the Howling Crane Gorges with a much more violent wind.
In the back of his mind, there was also a doubt now. This place reminded him of something but he couldn't quite put the finger on it. Somehow, he felt as though he had already been in a familiar place but this wasn't because of the place itself. In fact, it was related to the properties of this place that reminded him of something. However, try as he might, he couldn't figure it out himself. Maybe it was just the winds reminding him of the Howling Crane Gorges precisely. But he felt as though there was something else. Anyway, he had to leave this place before doing anything else. And to be honest, this feeling was the least of his worries right now.
The reason why he was focusing on it was because he didn't want to think about his little sister. Hopefully, not a lot of time had passed and she was still just a 3rd-grade Mortal Warrior. Until she became a Spirit Warrior, she was safe from Traitor Weide. After all, if he wanted to exploit her Soul Embryo, he couldn't do anything that would impede on her cultivation until then. This was also a way for Cao Yun to reassure himself. Since the properties Traitor Weide was looking for were transmitted from mother to daughter, he could also use Cao Huiying in order to birth other children. Obviously, Cao Yun didn't want to think about it.
Thankfully, from his understanding, this could indeed cause some problem with her cultivation, especially if she was forced to carry children. And even if she became a Spirit Warrior, Traitor Weide would probably wait for her Soul Embryo to be powerful enough in order to ensure he would indeed become a Sage. Hopefully, Cao Yun had enough time to come back. In the meantime, he would need to become much stronger. Indeed, if he didn't become a Spirit Warrior, it would be pointless to come back.
As he was now, the young man couldn't stop Traitor Weide. Yes, he might be able to form a coalition against him thanks to his allies now that he had more information. But he didn't think that Matriarch Huang or the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute would agree to it so easily. Despite their mistrust toward Emperor Weide, they would need strong proof to rebel, especially in the middle of a war. Maybe he could get Sect Leader Xuan's help, but then he would just put the Wubei Sect in harm's way. And more than that, he truly wanted to kill Weide himself. However, his sister's well-being came before anything else, including his satisfaction.
After several days, Cao Yun finally left the sandstorm. It was extremely strange. All of a sudden, he simply walked out of the storm. It was as if an invisible wall was surrounding that sandstorm. On one side of the wall, there was a storm so violent that one could barely see or hear anything. As soon as one passed through that invisible frontier though, there was a perfect calm.
When Cao Yun left the sandstorm, it was nighttime. This was a good thing since it allowed Cao Yun to have a good look at the stars. Immediately, he set up a camp close to the sandstorm. In his mind, he surmised that fewer demonic beasts would get close to such a raging storm, so he might be safer around here. Obviously, that didn't stop him from setting up a few array formations around his camp for protection. But then, he solely focused on the stars.
Unfortunately, the star charts he had were very old and in around fifteen thousand years, the constellations had changed. However, his understanding of Twelve Earthly Branches and Ten Heavenly Stems from the Eight Directions, Cao Yun was able to see patterns. Since humans had been enslaved by the demons and the first records were known, the constellations had changed a few times. Thus, array formation masters had found way to predict how they would evolve. By using those principles, Cao Yun was able not only to set up good array formations but also to orientate himself.
There was now no doubt in his mind. He was indeed almost exactly on the opposite side of the Piaolu planet. And at the very least, he hadn't spent millenniums in the bleeding space. Of course, this was very improbable, but this was still a good news. However, the current state of the constellations was not enough to tell him how long had passed since the last known star charts he had in mind. After all, stars were moving very slowly in the night sky. For that, he would need to find some demons. However, they might not be aware of what was going on in the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Hopefully though, he might be able to find some way to know for sure by comparing their calendars with main events on this planet, like the signature of the Seven Treaties.
Anyway, for the time being, Cao Yun decided to explore his surroundings. Flying around with Hongyu might be the easiest way to find the trace of any demons in the area. However, he had no idea of the kind of demonic beast in here. If they were to face a 9-core demonic beast, they would probably die. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had consumed his Spirit Condensation Barrier. Although he still had powerful pills, he had no way of defending himself against such a threat. 6-core demonic beasts were not much of a threat to him. In fact, he was pretty optimistic when facing 7-core demonic beasts, especially if they couldn't fly since Hongyu would give him a great advantage. But above that, the beasts were just too dangerous for him to face them. Thankfully, his stealth was very good thanks to Huang Liyue.
Outside of the sandstorm, Cao Yun could still feel the killing intent. In fact, it was even a bit stronger. Maybe he could find the demons by following it but it was all around him without seeming stronger in any specific direction. Since it was nighttime, there was also less Fire Qi around, but the sand was still saturated with it. There was another conundrum for Cao Yun. He had to choose whether to start exploring now or to wait for daytime. Since Hongyu was related to the Fire element, he decided to wait for daytime.
After making sure that Hongyu was in good shape, Cao Yun used his 'Ashen Feather Seal' around himself and Hongyu. Then, they both flew higher and higher. At first, they didn't try to move around, they were just gaining altitude in order to have a better view of the place. No matter how high they were getting, they didn't seem to find any upper limit to the sandstorm. It was as though it went all the way up to the sky. Even with his senses, Cao Yun couldn't see its end above. But surely there was an end.
Then he thought about Cleansed Asura's inner world. It reminded him of the world tree in his black pagoda. Yes! The feeling he had in the sandstorm was space being distorted. Somehow, space had been damaged and this was what was causing this eternal sandstorm. It would not calm down. In fact, it might even grow worse as space was trying to heal itself.
In other words, because space was damaged there, it had been easier to pierce through it. At least, that explained why he had left the bleeding space in the middle of that sandstorm. Any kind of force always followed the path of least resistance.