In the eyes of the Black Two-Headed Wolf, Cao Yun only saw despair and fear. The poor demonic beast could barely move and was famished. Just looking at it showed that it couldn't fight even another 1-core demonic beast. In fact, it probably could be slain by a mere mortal in good shape, or not-so-good shape. However, it couldn't pass on the possibility of eating fresh flesh. As such, the demonic beast couldn't run away, it had to devour Cao Yun. That was the only and last chance it had to simply stay alive. Nothing else existed for the Black Two-Headed Wolf. At the same time, though, it was painfully aware that it couldn't succeed.

A delicious meal was sitting right in front of its nose, but it knew it would never be able to enjoy it. Although it was merely a 1-core demonic beast and wasn't able to think as deep as an adult human or even Hongyu for that matter, Cao Yun could almost read those thoughts in its eyes. Most of those were pure instincts, but the emotions were clearly visible in its entire demeanor.

Although the Black Two-Headed Wolf desired to devour Cao Yun and savor his flesh, the young man had no negative emotions toward the beast. Truthfully, Cao Yun was just sad and pitied the poor creature. Thus, he didn't hesitate at all. The cultivator stabbed the air with two fingers pointed toward the beast, just like a spear. Mobilizing his Spear Heart, a tiny part of Qi emanated from his fingers. Unless one had used spiritual senses, they would never have seen anything. The next instant, the beast crumbled to the ground. It never even realized what had happened. One moment it was full of despair and fear, the next, it was dead on the ground.

That was the only kind of peace Cao Yun could give the creature. And once it was dead, the worms devouring the head that was already split open, began to move upward, trying to eat more of the flesh. Now that it was dead, its core wasn't sending much Qi through its body so the worms were not pushed back. Obviously, Cao Yun was disgusted at the scene. He walked forward and cut open the beast to get its core. Afterward, he sent a surge of his Black Heart Flame and consumed the entire corpse.

Looking at the core, it was small and deformed. The entire core was black and covered in cracks all over the place. Here and there, there were tiny excrescences that looked like minuscule bones. In fact, Cao Yun wasn't sure whether those were parts of the beast bones that would have somehow been embedded in it. But analyzing it closely with his spiritual senses, those tiny bones, barely visible to the naked eye, were amalgamation of Death Energy. And the core itself was oozing with Evil Qi, threatening its very structure. No one could use this core. At least, no alchemist in the Hongchen Kingdom could find any use for it.

That being said, with his understanding of the Dao of Death, Cao Yun might actually find some use to it. Thus, he kept it in his spatial ring after putting some seals in it to make sure it wouldn't become a problem, just in case.

Hongyu walked closer to Cao Yun. In the two of them, rage had completely vanished. Only sadness remained in them. This entire land was a place of desolation and anguish. All the demonic beasts that had survived would be living in abject conditions. Although Cao Yun didn't mind killing demonic beasts for resources, and to survive if necessary of course, it didn't mean that he was glad to see them suffer. Besides, he had become closer and closer with demonic beasts in his last years. Of course, he considered Hongyu as a part of his family, but she wasn't the only one he cared about. Even if killing Hongyu to take her cores and materials could somehow make him a much stronger cultivator, he wouldn't. Just like he wouldn't kill his friends or his family for that reason. He wasn't a demonic cultivator after all.

Unfortunately, Cao Yun couldn't purify this entire land. There were two entire provinces in that state, as well as some parts of the Rengui Province. Despite Governor Gang Suo's sacrifice, it hadn't come out unscathed from the war. Many demonic beasts were suffering and would keep suffering for quite some time. Cao Yun felt somewhat bad, but he couldn't save everyone, let alone every living being. He had to get to the Wubei Sect as soon as he could in order to save his sister. Even now, he was fighting time itself. He couldn't spend his time salvaging this land.

Of course, Cao Yun wouldn't just fly straight toward the Wubei Sect. Indeed, from time to time, he would have to take some rest. First of all, the atmosphere was extremely dense with Evil Qi and Death Energy. Even he and Hongyu would have to take some time to recover. But, Cao Yun also needed to cultivate in order to improve his strength as much as possible. However, he wouldn't have the time to deal with every demonic beast, or every village. Yes, he would deal with what was in front of him. But he wouldn't go out of his way to take care of other problems.

After this troubling encounter, Cao Yun walked further into the ruinous forest. He sat on the cold, dead soil and cultivated. First of all, he spread his spiritual senses as far as he could. He made sure that there was no human at all. Doing so, he found out several demonic beasts here and there. The strongest of them was a 5-core demonic beast, a Rock-Swimming Krait, some kind of large snake. It wasn't in such a poor state as the Black Two-Headed Wolf, but it wasn't in great shape either. Having several cores probably helped it. The Evil Qi wasn't able to damage all five of them at the same rate. Only one of his five cores was completely consumed by Evil Qi and Death Energy while the four others had staved off the corruption for now. Besides, it could eat more than a mere 1-core demonic beast could.

Anyway, there was no danger for Cao Yun to unseal his asura cultivation so he did so. Besides, it helped him train. Indeed, he had to learn to unseal his asura cultivation as fast as he could. If he was in danger of dying, he would obviously unseal his cultivation even if he had to expose it to everyone. He wouldn't just die to keep it a secret. After all, it wouldn't be a secret once he was dead and his body studied anyway.

Once his asura cultivation was unsealed, his Po joined his spiritual senses. His soul spread farther and he was able to sense more things, even deeper underground. The soil was corrupted for almost a hundred chi underground. In fact, it was seeping deeper all the time. The stagnating energies were spreading deeper underground than upward toward the sky. Indeed, although they were diminishing the strength of the Sun, its light and heat were natural enemies of Evil Qi, Death Energy and Ghost Energy. Indeed, Cao Yun was able to find traces of Ghost Energy here and there. Most of the land was full of Death Energy though. And almost all the Qi had been tainted and was now Evil Qi.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Any human, demon or beast walking in this land would be corrupted by this Evil Qi. In fact, weak cultivators would probably be killed by it. For all intents and purposes, this land was now a living hell. It wasn't as bad as the Yellow Death World yet, but it wasn't good either. For Cao Yun, it felt as if the land itself had died and was slowly rotting before everyone. But no one could do a thing but observe this tragic sight. The Hongchen Kingdom didn't even care about demonic beasts leaving. Indeed, they would simply be too weak and injured to put up any kind of fight. If this Black Two-Headed Wolf had escaped this corrupt land, it would have been slaughtered by any other beast outside, or even mere mortals.

Finally, Cao Yun practiced his cultivation. He kept on going with his 'Asura Strengthens Deva, Deva Enlightens Asura'. This time, he directly sent five of his seven Turbid Demons at his Soul Embryo. Last time, he had tried to send more only at the end when he was already exhausted. But he figured that it would be smarter to start high and then reduce the number of Turbid Demons as his fatigue progressed. That way, he could improve the effectiveness of his cultivation session. However, he wasn't ready to send all of his Turbid Demons yet.

Cao Yun prepared as much as he could. Besides, he now knew exactly what to expect from his 'Asura Strengthens Deva, Deva Enlightens Asura' cultivation. So he was in a better state even at the start. Then, he let his five Turbid Demons hammer at his Soul Embryo for several hours. This was incredibly effective. In fact, some of the Death Energy from the outside world seeped into his body and strengthened his Turbid Demons, increasing the pressure they were putting on his Soul Embryo. With his understanding of the Dao of Death and 'Death Reeling', Cao Yun could control it just like Qi.

In the end, Cao Yun cultivated almost as long as the first time, if not a tiny bit longer. By the end, only one of his Turbid Demons hammered at his Soul Embryo and he made it last as long as he could without endangering himself. Now, he was certain that he could start with all seven Turbid Demons. Besides, he had also gained a few hints on how to optimize his cultivation even more. In the last stage of his cultivation session, he could alternate between the Turbid Demons. Indeed, each one was causing him a slightly different kind of pain. By alternating them, he might be able to squeeze more out of the sessions. Besides, they were also tempering his Soul Embryo in different ways, so his result would be more balanced as well.

Once he was done, Cao Yun opened his eyes and rose in the air. Higher, he found Hongyu. She was flying above him as she didn't like being so close to this corrupted land. Everything felt nauseous to her. From time to time, she would have to take some rest on the ground. But, as long as she didn't need to, she would stay as far away from the soil as possible. Honestly, Cao Yun could understand her completely.

Since there was no sign of any human around, Cao Yun decided to play with the seal on his asura cultivation. Frequently, but not all the time, he would seal it and unseal it, trying to become faster each time. It was difficult to go faster, but even a breath faster could make a difference in a life and death scenario. Thus, he kept on working on it now and then. In fact, Dian Mo was also helping with that.

-

Hongyu and Cao Yun literally flew in a straight line, directly toward the Wubei Sect. Every week or so, they would rest for a day. Cao Yun would pay his respects to any village nearby and kill any demonic beasts that were too close. Then, he would cultivate his 'Asura Strengthens Deva, Deva Enlightens Asura'. After his first two sessions, he always started with all seven of his Turbid Demons and then reduced the number as he was getting more exhausted. Cao Yun and Dian Mo thought about different strategies. The one they had found seemed to work best. They waited for specific thresholds of fatigue before pulling out a Turbid Demon. But they didn't completely pull it out either. Instead, they found a sort of rotation to make each stage last as long as it could.

Thanks to this training, Cao Yun's cultivation was going very well. He might be able to become a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior in five or six years. Any cultivator would have killed for such a growth speed. Of course, the cultivation sessions were exhausting and dangerous. But the reward was incredible. Moreover, this hellish land was helping Cao Yun cultivate a little. And it was also helping him develop his understanding of 'Death Verses'. Indeed, he was constantly using 'See Through the Mud' and 'Death Reeling'. When he was on Hongyu's back, he also frequently used 'Living Death' in order to turn some of his own Po into Death Energy and back.

Speaking of 'Living Death', Cao Yun tried to do the opposite. He had tried to turn Death Energy from the outside into his Po, but he couldn't, at all. It could feed his Black Heart Flame and even be consumed by his Po, but it couldn't become part of his soul. After all, this was a corrupted version of Po, reverting the process was as difficult as bringing the dead back to life. Turning Evil Qi into Qi only consisted in separating the actual Qi from the negative emotions lingering around. But Death Energy was literally Po that had been broken and corrupted. It was the difference between cleaning a vase and reforming it from its own dust after it had been pulverized.

With each passing day, Cao Yun was getting stronger, even if not by much. Simply witnessing any kind of progress felt good. Besides, they were also flying faster than anticipated. After less than four weeks, they had crossed through two-thirds of the road. However, they were now in the very center of the corrupt land. They had left the Kai Province to enter the Huogu Province. Currently, they were approaching the worst part of this place. Even Cao Yun's spiritual senses were reduced by the sheer amount of Death Energy and Ghost Energy. In fact, Ghost Energy was more of an issue as he had a better understanding of the Po than the Hun from which originated Ghost Energy.

As he was preparing for his weekly cultivation, Cao Yun sensed something that alarmed it a little. Not too far from him was the presence of something he never thought he would find in the Hongchen Kingdom, or the Piaolu planet period. In the midst of some rotting carcasses, Cao Yun saw a small bird. It was extremely tiny, almost like a newborn chick. But it had no flesh whatsoever. Instead, it fully made out of bones. Over its small body, there were tiny black tendrils. Those were patches of black and rotten grass, just like the one Cao Yun had seen all over the place.

He obviously remembered where he had encountered such a bird before.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.