Empyrean Asura wasn't even at the Heidai Peak yet, but the entire area was covered in a thick layer of gray and black clouds. Red lightning was coursing through those clouds. The demonic beasts below either ran away or went feral. The Mortals and Mortal Warriors had to fend them off before the fight could even begin. Some people had not been evacuated far enough, so cultivators had to protect them, too. Hongyu had taken over the entire region, and all demonic beasts were obeying her. But this massive killing intent was, for the most part, simply driving them mad.
Unfortunately, cultivators couldn't abandon their posts to support others. Several of them were killed by demonic beasts while protecting the mere mortals. Among those mere mortals were servants, of course, but also family members and children of the Wubei Sect, like Ren Chao's children. As such, they were surrounded by many cultivators and array formations. They had been taken as far away from the Wubei Sect as time and safety allowed. After all, moving that many people wasn't easy, especially non-cultivators. Consequently, the Wubei Sect and the Hongchen Kingdom had made sure that they were well guarded. Hopefully, this would be enough.
From the ominous clouds, blood was raining all over the region, but mostly over the Heidai Peak. The drops of blood were sizzling on Matriarch Huang's iron fans. Even her True Fiery flames were slowly being worn out by the blood. Besides, the smoke caused by the flames and the blood spread in the air, strengthening the killing intent. Everyone's mind was already being assaulted.
Before Cao Yun did anything, Emperor Weide acted.
'Edict of Unavoidable Duty'
One of his three seals rose in the air and produced a powerful golden light. Everyone could hear the words of Emperor Nuwa herself. As the sky was so dark, the seal appeared to be a literal sun with the voice of Emperor Nuwa. Even the Spirit Warriors were convinced that they were seeing a goddess in front of their very eyes. Of course, they knew that this was only Emperor Weide's martial art, but it had a tremendous impact on their morale. Cao Yun remembered this same attack wielded against him. Experiencing it as a support felt very strange. Besides, Cao Yun knew that Emperor Weide was exhausting himself rather than the others because he had realized that he was currently the weakest link. As such, he didn't want anyone else to use up any of their strength before the actual fight.
A terrifying sneer echoed in the distance. A powerful voice resounded throughout the Wubei Sect. It was extremely loud and seemed to come from a gigantic beast, a ravenous demon. Emperor Weide's golden light even quivered a little.
"You think that wench will help you?! Do you want me to remind you what I did to that harlot?! Do you want the details of how she pleased me, how she begged me, how she loved every second of her servitude?! Your emperor was beneath even my concubines! If some of your women beg hard enough, I might allow them to survive long enough to bear me new children. So beg away!"
The killing intent in the air skyrocketed as a slender figure appeared before everyone. Despite this terrible voice, the body of the demon looked meek and fragile. Empyrean Asura was now standing before the Wubei Sect. He was right at the edge of the first line of defense. Although there was no fear in his eyes and only contempt and derision, he wasn't stupid enough to simply walk into a trap.
Even those who had never seen him could recognize him by his mere presence. Although he was theoretically inferior to the four cultivators standing before him, his aura was simply monstrous, to the point that his literal flesh was afflicted. Indeed, his body was full of bloody and even blackened cracks. His flesh was falling apart, it looked as if his own body was rotting here and there. The flesh of a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon couldn't handle his own Demon Soul.
To be fair, it was a miracle that Empyrean Asura's body had endured this long with such a disproportionate Demon Soul within. Demon God Da Mo had obliterated the soul of the demon who originally was Empyrean Asura. Now, only Demon God Da Mo remained. Clearly, he had already decided that he could discard this body. Now that he had found a way to get his blood back, he could regenerate another body. In the meantime, he could very well take over a few bodies. This wasn't a problem. Until now, he had done everything to protect this body because it was the most suited for his Demon Soul. He would probably never find a better body on the Piaolu planet, but he didn't care anymore. While his blood recreated a new body, he could make do with an inferior vessel of flesh.
At this stage, Empyrean Asura had not yet realized that his blood had actually already formed a new body. It was better if he didn't realize that. Unfortunately, Cao Yun was now certain that his best-case scenario wouldn't work. There was no way they would be able to annihilate Demon God Da Mo's Demon Soul without exposing his Exalted Demon body. They would absolutely need Mo Tian's help, and this wasn't good news. But they were ready for it.
"Congratulations on achieving this breakthrough before your death. I will make sure to sift through your souls in order to find out how you performed such a feat. I will also use the opportunity to find out about anyone you ever cared about. For those, death will be slow. They will beg for death, they will humiliate and debase themselves in ways you can't even fathom. They will perform all manner of humiliation for my entertainment, but they won't know the sweet release of death. And I'll make sure to remind them that the reason for their torment is your stupidity. Kill yourselves right now, surrender your souls to me, and I promise that they will have a quick death."
"The great Demon God Da Mo seems to fear a fight against my Hongchen Kingdom. Apparently, he's just a common, vulgar thug who thinks intimidating words and empty threats can win him anything. It might work on your slaves. But mankind will never be enslaved by your kind, or by any other. Not a single human will debase himself for your pleasure, wretched creature. You're just an old memory of a disgraceful past."
Emperor Weide's words annoyed Demon God Da Mo. The worst part was that he had already exposed him before everyone. Thankfully, no other demon was here yet. Moreover, they would probably have guessed it already, to be fair.
"Remember, when you beg me for death, you chose this path! If you just had..."
"Quit repeating yourself! We heard your threats already, and they don't scare us! Your threats are empty as long as you haven't killed us. So come and kill us if you can! My Huang family will give its last drop of blood to eradicate your disgusting soul."
Completely enraged by the disrespect, Demon God Da Mo let even more killing intent slip out. As a direct result, his body began to die a bit faster. Without this body, Demon God Da Mo would be a bit more vulnerable. But, at the same time, he would have no reason to rein in his spiritual senses and his soul attacks.
"Fine! You think you've seen the Dao, let me be your teacher!"
Behind Empyrean Asura, a large rune appeared, made entirely of blood. Although no one recognized the language, they were all able to read it. Indeed, this was Insight Writing. That rune behind him only meant Blood. Demon God Da Mo was manifesting the Dao of Blood. Throughout his body, bright red blood erupted with a golden hue. It surrounded him. His entire flesh seemed to be constantly covered in fresh blood. In his hands, two swords materialized out of his own blood. With no hesitation at all, he slashed forward. The very first line of defense got triggered.
A giant shell appeared all around the Wubei Sect. It was as black as night and as huge as a mountain. However, a red crack appeared, and the entire shell exploded into pieces. Demon God Da Mo had destroyed a 5-star Heaven array formation in one single slash. Not even Cao Yun could boast such an ability. Of course, he was confident he could have gone through this array formation, but not that fast and not with raw strength. But that technique wasn't raw strength, Demon God Da Mo had used the Dao of Blood. Through this attack, Cao Yun could sense a few things, but they were extremely vague and blurry. Sadly, he had cultivated his blood, he had the Drop of Wrath, but he had never actually studied the Dao of Blood. That being said, he had read about it in Cleansed Asura's memories.
The Dao of Blood could make someone much stronger, it would increase their vitality, their physical strength, their ability to heal, but it would also sap the strength of others. In order to manifest the Dao, one didn't even need to use their spiritual senses. What mattered was one's understanding of the Dao. As such, it was possible for a Sage to be stronger than a Monarch through their Dao alone. In reality, the difference in everything else made it extremely difficult, or even impossible in some cases, though.
Now that the first line of defense had fallen, Demon God Da Mo was overconfident and suddenly flew forward. Many Spirit Warriors led by Sun Liao activated other array formations. Thousands upon thousands of golden arrows flew through the air. Demon God Da Mo avoided most of them through his sheer speed. But they were also all connected to golden chains. Those golden chains coiled around Da Mo's body. Flying faster and faster, he broke them apart. From his blood, spikes erupted and broke the chains without him even stopping or slowing down.
Suddenly, he collided with a wall. Thunder fell from the sky and created a steel wall just as Demon God Da Mo passed. It resisted for half a breath before exploding everywhere. From his blood-covered body, hundreds of javelins manifested and flew in every direction. He didn't even try to target anyone. Several Spirit Warriors were hit. As soon as they got hit, the blood javelins entered their bodies and collapsed into tiny orbs. Immediately, they felt as if all their blood was being drained. Although it stayed in their bodies, all the blood was sucked into the blood orb that had penetrated their flesh. Despite their best efforts, they died as all their blood was taken from them while remaining within their flesh.
Hundreds of small red orbs flew back toward Demon God Da Mo. He didn't take them back into his body. Instead, he controlled them as steel balls and threw them forward. They pierced through various defenses as Demon God Da Mo was flying straight forward. He just wanted to kill the four cultivators in front of him.
Sect Leader Xuan Mu stepped forward. As his foot hit the air, ripples spread in every direction. It was as if he had walked on the surface of water. This was a very rudimentary manifestation of the Dao of Space. The space between Demon God Da Mo and Sect Leader Xuan seemed to become more viscous. The sensation was eerie, but something felt off. Demon God Da Mo himself felt that he was getting closer at a slower rate, even though he was clearly speeding up. This was frustrating, to say the least.
Golden chains emerged from his blood and erupted toward Sect Leader Xuan. They disappeared into thin air as if their extremities had become invisible. But the very next moment, they were already striking Sect Leader Xuan. They cut through his robe, but the old man barely moved, and the chains missed all of his actual body, simply cutting through his robe in one spot, revealing armor beneath his clothes. Then, Sect Leader Xuan disappeared and reappeared outside those chains.
Demon God Da Mo didn't want to play around with Dao or Qi Manifestation, he wanted to get his hands dirty. He wanted to feel their flesh tear against his fists. Besides, he couldn't wait to grab his own blood. Now he was certain that it was down there, directly below the four cultivators facing him. He couldn't wait to break them apart and watch them despair as he got his blood back.
Cao Yun felt that it was enough. All the array formations protecting the Wubei Sect suddenly collapsed. Demon God Da Mo flew like crazy in order to get to the Devil's Jail. When he was close enough, the array formations all triggered once more. At this moment, he realized that even the array formations he had broken apart were back. However, he could also tell that they were much stronger than before. If he wanted to break through them, it would require several hours, not a few breaths.
"You...! You tricked me!"
"And this was easy. You're blinded by greed. But do not worry. We will cure that condition for you. Greed has always been and always will be your downfall."
Cao Yun was extremely calm. From within, he circulated the blood of the Weaver of Souls. For the very first time, Demon God Da Mo paused.
"You have his blood... But... No, you're definitely human, and yet... You've done it?!"
Demon God Da Mo's dream was to create for himself a body that could rival the Three Jade Saints. Clearly, Cao Yun had gotten closer than he ever achieved in his entire life, despite breeding several humans and demons. Even his blood didn't seem as important right now. One way or another, he had to know Cao Yun's secret. A perverse smile deformed his face. Today, he would gain more than he had in an entire lifetime. After that, he might actually be able to take over the Withering Fusang Domains.
"Ha ha ha! You just trapped me with what I desire most in all of reality! How stupid can you get?!"
"We will see who is the foolish one, old demon."