According to what Cao Yun currently knew about array formations, there were at least a hundred locations where they could be positioned. Detecting an array formation was often easier than setting up one. And depending on its level and grade, breaking it could be either fairly simple or impossibly difficult. Right now, Cao Yun had many things to jungle with and it did not give him much ti to think.
In priority, he had to train his martial arts with 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars''s Neck Star. He had to train to erase his presence with 'Locking the Seven' and to move with stealth thanks to 'Stopping the Waves'. He also had to get enough knowledge about array formations to sneak into the Coiling Silk Faction residence without problem. Then, he had to train his mind cultivation with the Po character to enhance everything else and protect himself even better against the Drop of Wrath. Of course, he had to advance his Qi cultivation too, using spirit stones and the Qi Vortex array formation.
Finally, he needed to train his alchemy to be able to produce a Small Moon Closing pill of good enough quality. It was a 3-star Earth pill whereas he was still working on the Seven Frogs Winter pill as Instructor ng had asked him.
There was a lot of things to consider. But in the end, he realized that all of these could be used to help him get inside the Coiling Silk Faction residence. Once he uncovered the truth, he would decide on his next course of action. And for that, he needed to be strong enough both in his martial arts and in his Qi cultivation.
For now, he decided to organize his schedule around this goal. He also rembered his upcoming fight but he wasn't too stressed. He had easily taken care of Luduo Bu once and he was even stronger now. Whereas, Luduo Bu had spent the past few weeks in the Devil's Jail.
Using his 'Shen Visualization', Cao Yun worked on the two pills he had to perfect, the Seven Frogs Winter pill and the Small Moon Closing pill. The first one only served to train his craft but it was essential to be able to refine a decent Small Moon Closing pill. There was no new concept to master, he simply had to harmonize his hands with his senses to get the timing right. As the fla and the flow of dicinal essences and toxins were always changing, he could not just mindlessly follow instructions. Every refinent was a new experience, but it fed his 'Shen Visualization'. Little by little, he refined his understanding and polished his deductions.
Even without spiritual senses, his Shen was powerful enough to allow him to almost see what was going on in the cauldron through his other senses and his intelligence.
When the ti he had allocated to his alchemy was over, Cao Yun had made a Seven Frogs Winter pill with 97% dicinal essence and 6% toxins. With only a bit fewer toxins, he would reach what Instructor ng had asked of him. His best bet was to reduce the amount of dicinal essences as well, by absorbing a bit less of both, he would be able to reach this stage. On the other hand, his Small Closing Moon pill did not exceed 84%. It was a 3-star Earth pill after all. Even though it wasn't particularly hard within its rank, it still was tough to reach a Perfect grade.
After his alchemy training, he went back to the Howling Crane Gorge. With his points he could go there three tis during the month. And if he kept on selling his pills, he would even gain a fourth access before the end of the month. Thus, he decided to go there once a week. With its powerful gale, it was the perfect place to train his stances and his movents. Before going inside the formation, he looked it from above.
The formation was dug inside the mountain. It looked like a snake strangely coiled on itself. Using what he had learned, he tried to examine the array formation. He did not get a lot, but he tried to see its shape and positioning relative to the mountain and the surroundings. During several minutes, he tried to figure out why it had been made in such a way. This formation was a 3-star Heaven array formation, so he had no way to understand it. Nonetheless, he still got a bit of understanding from studying it. Such an array formation was able to recharge itself with the Qi from nature itself and required little to no maintenance.
Once inside the array formation, he quickly went to the third stage. In there, he had to fight just to keep his stance. This perpetual fight to simply stay still was allowing him to understand the concept of 'movent within stillness'. This concept was the core of the Neck Star but also of 'Stopping the Waves'. The concept that was more difficult to grasp was 'stillness within movent'.
For the first half of the hour, Cao Yun only focused on keeping his stance. And soon enough he was able to stay perfectly still despite the gale. All his body was moving with the gale itself and for any onlooker he would appear to be immobile even though he was constantly moving. In his sea of consciousness, the Neck Star shone brightly and Cao Yun understood the first move of the second star, 'The Moon Grounds the Sun'. With this deeply rooted stance, he could increase the strength of his strikes twofold at least and move even faster.
He also achieved a little bit of success in 'Stopping the Waves', but the main concept to really understand it was 'stillness within movent'.
During the second half of his ti, Cao Yu trained his 'Dragon's Twin Horns'. Using it while performing 'The Moon Grounds the Sun' was exceptional. Each of his strike split the gale for several seconds.
As his ti was soon over, he decided to try and get inside the fourth level. Once again, the gale beca twice as violent and powerful. Without his new understanding, he would have been blown away instantly. But with the first move of the Neck Star, he was able to barely stay standing.
When he got back ho, he tried to circulate his Qi in his legs by following 'Stopping the Waves'. Focusing all his senses on his steps, he faintly heard that he was making less noise, but the difference was not that impressive. He also used this ti to practice 'Locking the Seven'. Circulating his Qi to perform both at the sa ti was more difficult, but he needed to be able to do so.
During his ti walking around, there was nothing else to do. His Qi and mind cultivation required him to be still and perfectly focused on what was happening within his body. On the other hand, this technique was ant to be used on the field. He also focused on the concept of 'stillness within movent' and he was beginning to get so clues about this. Although he was constantly moving, there were always small pauses. It was impossible to go straight and imdiately go backwards without stopping first. But even by going straight, there were small pauses in your muscles. Cao Yun felt like the mystery of the technique laid there.
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While walking around he also looked for a good place to set up a Qi Vortex array formation. He found one near the boundary between the outer yard and the exterior yard. It was a small basin. Once inside it would be difficult for people to see him from afar. And its shape would strengthen the effect of the array formation even more. He made a ntal note about it. Later he would ask Huang Cixi to accompany him there. He really needed soone to stand guard. While in his Qi cultivation, his senses could not perceive the exterior world. Even soone without bad intention could jolt him out of his ditative state and cause trouble for him.
If it wasn't within the Wubei Sect, Cao Yun would not even entertain the idea of training in such a place. He had done so when he was in the wild, but it was always dangerous.
-
Under the disciplinary pavilion was the Devil's Jail. It was a relic from at least twenty thousand years ago. The sect had been founded around ten thousand years ago and the current sect leader was its seventh leader. When the sect was founded, many ruins and relics of the ti before Emperor Nuwa were found. Most of them were now used by the Wubei Sect.
Emperor Nuwa was the great savior of mankind. Twenty thousand years ago, demons were ruling the entire Piaolu planet. Humans were nothing more than cattle for them. But then ca a woman who stood up against their tyranny. She was the first ever cultivator of the human race since the Legendary Era. With her cultivation, she could turn entire continents upside down, trample on mountains and rip out the sky. A great war was waged against the demons and finally a safe haven was built for humans, the Hongchen Kingdom.
Everyone in the Hongchen kingdom knew this story. The Devil's Jail was a relic from this distant past. It had been used to imprison powerful demons for a long ti. There were nine levels and each one added a layer of suppression. Even a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior was unable to escape the ninth floor. In the first floors however, the restrictions were almost nonexistent. Then, the more you went down, the less Qi you were able to control and move, even inside your own body. Finally, your very mind and soul would be suppressed. Nowadays no one was able to reproduce the array formations that were in the walls of this prison.
Past emperors had even used this Devil's Jail to imprison powerful cultivators or demons. Right now, the jail was almost empty and only a handful of disciples were sent to its first layer as punishnt. It had been decades since a disciple was condemned to go deeper than the second floor.
In the first floor, Luduo Bu was within a cell. His sentence was soon over. And earlier in the week, he had received the official challenge from Cao Yun.
For now, he was ditating cross-legged. Within his body, he was moving his blood with the help of his Qi. The cultivation he practiced was very strange. Humans tended to focus on cultivating their Qi. But his martial art, 'Bloody Cavalry', put more emphasis on blood. He could even use blood as a weapon and enhance his strength by infusing more of his Qi within his blood. When he beca a Mortal Warrior, he could manifest his Qi outside of his body. This way, he would be able to control his blood outside of his body with more precision.
His martial art allowed him to have a bit of control, but not that much.
As he was cultivating, the man in black and purple appeared right in front of his cell.
"You seem to have achieved two runes in your blood cultivation, that's a small success. But your own blood won't be enough to condense more runes."
As the man spoke, two very strange characters left Luduo Bu's arms. There was a cut on both of his forearms with a little bit of blood dripping from them. The two runes leaving his arms were drawn in his own blood. There was sothing really ominous about them, and not just because they were made of blood. A sense of brutality and savagery was embedded into them.
"Your cultivation thod is really incredible! I was stuck in my 'Bloody Cavalry' for at least a year. But as soon as I condensed the first rune, I broke through."
"I'm glad to hear it. You know about your fight with Chen Guo, I presu?"
"Yes. I can't wait to crush him!"
"Good! However, rember! You cannot kill him. First of all, we need him. But we also could not protect you if you were to kill him within the sect. Just wait until next year. We probably won't need him anymore and you'll be able to take your revenge as soon as he leaves the sect's grounds."
Luduo Bu had a look of disappointnt. "I know, I know. I'll just break his limbs and crush him beneath my feet. I just hope he doesn't give up before I'm done with him." A sinister laugh flooded the Devil's Jail. "And next year, I'll use his blood essence to condense a new rune. No, wait! I'll rip apart the little servant and i Hua before his eyes and then I'll condense his blood essence. The look of despair as I torture them slowly while he's powerless before ... I just can't wait for it."
"I know I had chosen the right man for the job." He took out a small jade vial and opened it. A pungent sll of blood flooded Luduo Bu's nostrils. "I brought you so more blood."
When Luduo Bu took the vial, he poured its content in his hand. Then he circulated his Qi in his palm and the blood started to move as well, trying to take the form of another rune.
"It would be way easier if I could just use fresh blood from sothing I've killed myself. Or soone..."
"Do not worry, you'll have a bit more than a week to train. I'm sure you can forge one more rune without any problem. Once you condense a rune, you store it within your own blood, so not even Xiao Xuefeng will be able to tell where the blood ca from. But rember, always be wary of her. She's a real complication."
"I know. And when do we act?"
"The Demon Palace only opens every seven years. We'll have to wait two more years. I'm sorry but you'll be a fourth-year, so you'll miss the best opportunity. But you're already a mid 7th-grade Mortal. If you're able to cross over to the 8th-grade soon enough, I'm sure you'll beco a Mortal Warrior before you're even a fourth-year. You should not underestimate how beneficial the third year will be for soone practicing the Demon path."
Obviously, the cultivation the man in purple and black had given Luduo Bu was a demonic art. It was called 'Blood Runes' and consisted in forging runes from the blood essence of your victims. The runes would then enter your own blood and increase your strength. They also gave you so powers on your own blood. And as blood transported Qi, it also helped you increase your Qi cultivation.
'Blood Runes' had several layers going up to 108 runes. The first layer was only the condensation of your first rune using your own blood. After that, you had to use the blood of demonic beasts or other cultivators. This was not inherently evil as you could use demonic beasts, but using human blood was way faster. And each ti you cultivated this thod, you would beco more bloodthirsty. However, Luduo Bu was already rather violent and bloodthirsty.
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