Cao Yun's newly developed 'Asura Strengthens Deva, Deva Enlightens Asura' was absolutely an ordeal. He wasn't just seeing memories and feeling the emotions related to them, he was quite literally reliving them all. He could feel the anger and rage build up within himself. As more and more pressure was being put on his soul, he also felt a lot of mental pain. Strangely enough, his body felt incredibly good and this caused a contrast that made the mental pain worse. As his soul was being hammered by Flying Poison, it contracted against his Soul Embryo.

In fact, tiny parts of his soul even entered his Soul Embryo. Usually, only a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior could reach that point. Indeed, if one's Soul Embryo wasn't familiar enough with the cultivator's soul, they simply couldn't enter it. That was the entire point of Impregnation of Soul, making them compatible for the next stage, Merging of Spirits. During Merging of Spirits, the cultivator would put their entire soul into their Soul Embryo. And then, finally, in the very next stage, Spiritual Harmony, the two of them would truly become one.

At the moment, Cao Yun was very far from putting his entire soul into his Soul Embryo, but the mere fact that shards of it were able to enter, even though they were pushed back afterward, was incredible. His cultivation method was extremely good, but also insanely dangerous. While Cao Yun was cultivating, he was accepting the flow of emotions. Instead of trying to resist, he obeyed the philosophy of Ran Wuzi. He let himself be taken by the current, only trying to experience it and not hinder it at all.

In the physical realm, his body was sweating profusely and the golden glow around his head was getting both stronger and more condensed around his head. In fact, his skin was going redder and redder. More and more blood was going into his Upper Dantian. Since his blood was so rich, his head was almost like an asura. In fact, it was as if his head was made of blood at some point. But his Upper Dantian was receiving an incredible amount of energy.

In Cao Yun's sea of consciousness, his Nine Soul Peaks, the representation of the nine chambers of his Upper Dantian, were shining with silver and golden hues. The roots of the world tree seed were brimming with life, further burrowing into the seven Turbid Demons. As a result, his own Po was being nourished, allowing his Flying Poison to strike harder, making the visions more vivid. As much as he was trying to control his breathing, Cao Yun had a hard time. In a matter of hours, he was like a mortal who had run for an entire day without any rest. Still, he was trying to push himself further and further.

Hongyu, the Lacquer Abyss Nian Fish and Dian Mo were all observing this. Since she was so close to him, Hongyu could sense her brother's ordeal and was worried. To the contrary, the Lacquer Abyss Nian Fish was extremely excited as it could sense Cao Yun's soul being tempered. Although the fish had no intention of attacking Cao Yun, it was as if a great chef was preparing a magnificent banquet in front of it. That being said, it was very happy with the soul fragment from Da Mo. In fact, the Lacquer Abyss Nian Fish was getting closer and closer to forming its ninth and last core. Thus, it wanted to please Cao Yun as much as he could. The fish was swimming around in excitement. Honestly, Hongyu saw him as an excited puppy, that was unbecoming of an 8-core demonic beast...

Finally, Dian Mo was the most worried. Indeed, he could see everything that was happening within Cao Yun's sea of consciousness. His Five Aspects were completely engulfed in the fires of his Shen the Fire Spirit. His Yi the Earth Intent had completely molted into liquid gold. In fact, the temperature was so high that some of it had turned into literal gas that was mixing with the fires and giving a strange hue to everything within. This golden fire had spread all around the Nine Soul Peaks. Dian Mo could feel the influence of Cao Yun's Rune of Fire. Although he didn't have any understanding of the Dao of Fire, this rune was an emanation of this Dao of Fire, and it was reacting to Cao Yun.

His Zhi the Water Will had also turned liquid. It wasn't a gas though, but it was in suspension in the air, adding touches of black here and there. But the most important of his Five Aspects were obviously Po the Metal Corporeal Soul and Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul. Well, his Po aspect was being bathed in the golden fire, burning any small impurity within. Cao Yun's Po character looked like an ivory sculpture with seven tiny bones orbiting it, representing his seven Turbid Demons. At this point, the ivory was so pure and so white, it was unworldly. On its surface, it was also reflecting the world around it, in particular, the Hun character.

Last but not least, his Hun character was also a sculpture, a jade sculpture. Its color was a vibrant green that made it look like it was a living plant of some kind. But it wasn't burning within the golden fires. Most of its impurities were gone too and it was reflecting the world around itself. In fact, since it was somewhat translucent, it felt as if it contained the world outside within itself. In particular, it looked like it contained a perfect copy of the Po character and its orbiting bone sculptures.

In the center of this phantasmagorical furnace, Cao Yun's Soul Embryo was being hammered down by Flying Poison. His Soul Embryo was a tiny silver human being in a fetal position. As such, it looked like a monstrous demon trying to crush a holy baby. However, there was some invisible membrane protecting the child. What was very difficult to perceive though was that the baby was growing a little and its features were changing. Everything was extremely subtle. But Dian Mo could tell that the child's features were definitely starting to appear more similar to Cao Yun himself. An untrained eye couldn't see anything, but Dian Mo could. Cao Yun himself had not noticed because he was entranced in his cultivation.

Although that technique was absolutely insane, Dian Mo could tell that it was extremely effective. Without his mind cultivation and his Po though, Cao Yun would never have been able to pull it off. That also meant that transcribing this technique for someone else was almost impossible. That being said, Dian Mo made sure to take in any detail. He was more focused than he had ever been. Not only did he want to watch over Cao Yun, he also wanted to observe this fascinating technique.

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After several hours, Cao Yun was finally reaching the end of his mental strength. Even for him, this was strenuous. Sensing that he couldn't last much longer, he decided to test something out, even for just a few moments.

He finally unleashed Unclean Evil's chains. Its black sludge instantly covered the silver embryo. However, it couldn't touch it. Even in this ocean of pestilence, Cao Yun's Soul Embryo stayed pure and immaculate. As Flying Poison was hammering the embryo, its strikes sent the black sludge flying all over the place. But the golden fires burned it when it flew too close to the Five Aspects or the Nine Soul Peaks. During this new assault, Cao Yun saw new visions. He relived his own shameful moments, that induced even more rage and anger. Both emotions were feeding off of one another, making them stronger and stronger. Instantly, Cao Yun felt that it was much more effective, but also too hard for him to sustain it for long. He didn't know how long he had cultivated until now, but he certainly was too exhausted to sustain the assaults of two Turbid Demons. However, with enough preparation and rest, he was almost sure he could send all seven of his Turbid Demons at his Soul Embryo.

Cultivating longer wasn't as important as the quality of his cultivation. Even if he could only cultivate 'Asura Strengthens Deva, Deva Enlightens Asura' with his seven Turbid Demons for one hour a week, his progress would be great, and cumulative. Indeed, he could feel his Po growing stronger just as his Soul Embryo was.

Finally, Cao Yun calmed down. He focused on the chains of his Po to reel in his two Turbid Demons. Cao Yun was cautious and pulled them slowly. Ending his cultivation session too abruptly could be as dangerous as the session itself. Then he spent several hours calming down and controlling his breathing. As time passed, his blood left his Upper Dantian just as the golden hue around his head dissipated. It was a very slow, steady and peaceful process, very different from his actual cultivation technique.

During that time, Cao Yun could digest everything that had happened. But he wasn't focused on anything in particular. In fact, he made sure not to try and obsess over his progress. He would have enough time afterward to see how much it had helped him. For the time being, he solely put his focus on resting, breathing and calming down.

When he finally opened his eyes, Cao Yun was perfectly calm. He felt the air around him. Everything had changed. Although he was not spreading his spiritual senses, he could feel a high concentration of his own soul around him. Even without trying to spread his soul, it was naturally spreading. In fact, it was much more abundant and powerful than before. Both his Po and Hun had evolved. And they had completely suppressed the soul fragment from Demon God Da Mo. Of course, without the indirect assistance of Emperor Nuwa's defenses, Cao Yun wouldn't be able to suppress it much. He would fare better than before, but it would be a terrible battle, and it was just a fragment of Demon God Da Mo's soul.

"Boy, you truly impressed me!"

"Thank you. How long did I cultivate?"

"Your actual cultivation lasted six double hours. Then, you've spent four double hours calming down. A day almost passed by."

"That's better than I thought... I'll have to use more Turbid Demons next time. But I'm not sure I'll be able to cultivate like that before a week or two. This is very intense..."

"No kidding!"

Then, Cao Yun began to observe the changes. He was extremely happy with his development. For several hours, he tried to remember every detail and sensation of his cultivation session. Each time, he was comparing it with what he had read and was trying to improve upon his 'Asura Strengthens Deva, Deva Enlightens Asura'. Once he was done, he started talking with Dian Mo about it.

As a spirit himself, Dian Mo had a lot of insights into soul and mind cultivation. Thus, he had been able to observe many details that had escaped Cao Yun who was fully immersed in his cultivation. For almost three days, the two of them talked about what had happened and worked on improving 'Asura Strengthens Deva, Deva Enlightens Asura' together. In fact, they were so immersed in their conversation that they completely forgot about the outside world.

At some point, the Lacquer Abyss Nian Fish got bored and spread its lake of shadows in the tunnels. Some demons were trying to invade the Hongchen Kingdom by new roads they had found in the tunnels. So the giant shadowy fish devoured their souls whole, then, he brought their flesh back to his cave. With a bit of embarrassment, he offered their carcasses to Hongyu. The proud fenghuang wasn't too keen on devouring the fish's leftovers. But she saw that he had not taken a single bite out of them. She could feel his goodwill. Maybe he wasn't as pathetic as she thought. Those demons were late Golden Blood Children. So they weren't too good, but their Golden Blood did refresh Hongyu. Her eighth core barely advanced though. Honestly, she was growing very tired of this black cave, but she was waiting for her brother.

Finally, Cao Yun opened his eyes for good. His talk with Dian Mo had been very intense and productive. His next session would be even better thanks to all the improvement to his 'Asura Strengthens Deva, Deva Enlightens Asura'. However, now was the time to leave. Spending a few days to get ready wasn't a problem. In fact, he had not lost time, he had gained it, in the long run. If his cultivation could help him break through even a week sooner, in the long run, he might need eight years instead of nine. Besides, his cultivation technique was still being developed. He might actually need half the time for twice the result, or even better than that. With his mind cultivation and his Drop of Wrath as his Po, Cao Yun's soul cultivation was much faster than he had anticipated.

Anyway, his breakthrough would happen naturally, worrying over it wasn't worth it. Now that the Lacquer Abyss Nian Fish had agreed to his terms, Cao Yun could leave back to his Wubei Sect. He spent several minutes sealing his asura cultivation, putting the black orb back into the wooden box and dissolving most of his array formation. He left pieces of the 'Death Spiral of the Ten Thousand Souls' for the Lacquer Nian Fish. It would hide the fish, just in case. It now had a safe place to come back too. Cao Yun would just send a letter to Huang Si to warn her to avoid this place. Besides, there was nothing important to the Huang family so he knew she would listen to him.

Hongyu emerged from the black cave in the middle of the day. Finally seeing daylight overjoyed her. She flew into the open sky and rejoiced. Cao Yun saw her being just as excited as the Lacquer Abyss Nian Fish. Despite her attitude toward the poor fish, she was also able to show her excitement. She flew all over the place for a few moments before realizing she was acting like a kid, and stopped herself. She tried to appear dignified and noble, which made Cao Yun smile.

He stroked her plumage.

"We're going home. We'll go through some dangerous places, so enjoy yourself on the way, before we get there."

She answered with a gentle screech and flew forward.

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