In Cao Yun's sea of consciousness, all seven Turbid Demons suddenly pulled the golden chains into themselves. They all disappeared within the demons. Then, the taut chains linking them to the Drop of Wrath pulled all seven Turbid Demons back into Axiu Qian. They were going so fast that the chains let out sparks that ignited the blood that was Axiu Qian's body. This fire melded with Shen the Fire Spirit. However, this fire wasn't hostile to Cao Yun.
In fact, Cao Yun felt a deep warmth spread throughout his mind. Even as all his emotions came crashing down on him, he had a completely different perception of everything. Although the pain and sorrow were unbelievable, the young man could easily stand them. His rage was also under control. None of those emotions overwhelmed his sanity or reason. But that didn't mean that he was indifferent to them.
In a sense, it was as if his emotions had been encased in ice. This sudden fire had melted all the ice, but his emotions were not ravaging his mind. He could feel them with a new outlook. They were within him, but they were not him. Somehow, Cao Yun could almost hear, or more accurately feel, his seven Po and three Hun debating. Each one of his souls was trying to pull his conscious mind toward specific actions. Although his mind, his very ego even, was a product of this perpetual debate, there was now something more.
Feng Yingyue believed that the ego was a product of the Dao, maybe even a part of the Dao trying to experience the world. Honestly, Cao Yun wasn't convinced at all. Now that he could somewhat feel the Dao around him, he still wasn't sure about that. However, he had to admit that he couldn't claim for certainty that his mind was solely the product of his souls arguing among each other. Maybe his mind had simply evolved. Just like a baby was the product of his parents but grew up into a different, unique individual, Cao Yun's soul might have simply evolved. Now, it was merged within his Soul Embryo.
Cao Yun would need to meditate on all that. Unfortunately, he was almost certain that he would never get an answer. At the very least, he would need centuries, millennia, maybe more. Deep down, he had the nagging feeling that those questions would never find suitable answers, only interesting hypotheses.
Anyway, Cao Yun was now able to touch the Dao. Three of them immediately became clearer to him. Pushing his mind cultivation to the limit, Cao Yun slowed down his mind as much as he could. From the outside, he was painfully aware that his body was in a terrible state. Even now, it was slowly recovering from his insane breakthrough. The young man pushed the sensation of pain aside to focus on other matters. He wanted to help Sun Liao and the others.
His hatred for Emperor Weide was back. No matter what, he would make him pay, but he would change his approach. Since his sister was already gone, Cao Yun had no reason to hold back in order to protect her. Moreover, the Hongchen Kingdom was under attack. Despite his intense desire to slaughter Emperor Weide, he might have to control his impulses and find another way. In the end, though, Emperor Weide would die. But Cao Yun would also make sure that his very legacy would die along with him. Emperor Weide would not be remembered kindly, to say the least. On that, Cao Yun was adamant.
Try as he might, Cao Yun couldn't find a way to save Sun Liao and the others. Honestly, he was nearly certain that even this powerful attack by Empyrean Asura wouldn't kill him, but he didn't want to survive surrounded by the corpses of his brothers and sister. As such, he had to find a way to actually help Sun Liao. For that, Cao Yun pushed his already strained mind. Time slowed down as much as it could within his sea of consciousness.
Although Cao Yun had no time to study the Dao, he could capitalize on what he already knew. Until that moment, Cao Yun had had contact with three Dao, really. Through the Sect Leaders of the Wubei Sect's diaries, the 'Daydreams on the Heidai Peak', he had touched the Dao of Space. He had even encountered it directly when he had fallen into the breach, sending him on the other side of the planet. Through his Rune of Fire and his knowledge of alchemy, he had studied the Dao of Fire, further improved by the evolved Solar-Orchid Flame. Finally, his most understood Dao was the Dao of Death through 'Death Verses' written by Cleansed Asura.
The Dao of Space could have been incredibly useful, but it was the one Cao Yun least understood, so he couldn't improve upon it in a short amount of time. Thus, he turned to the other two.
Deep in his Lower Dantian, Cao Yun could feel his Solar-Orchid Flame. It had turned into an actual Dao Seed. Within it lay the potential for a completely new understanding of the Dao of Fire. Although Cao Yun had deep knowledge about the control of fire through his alchemy, he would still need a lot of time to push this Dao forward. Besides, he couldn't see how it would be useful right now. Only if his Dao of Fire was supreme could he burn down the attack of Empyrean Asura. Right now, he clearly wasn't strong enough to do any of that.
With all that in mind, Cao Yun obviously decided to focus on his Dao of Death. He had even recently captured a Bone Demon to study it. Now, he would be able to improve his knowledge of this Dao to a much deeper level. Of course, he couldn't take out and study this Bone Demon right now. But his understanding of 'Death Verses' was already pretty good.
Golden insight writings emerged from his sea of consciousness. They danced around Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. His Po had the appearance of a sculpture made of bones. Around it, small runes of bones were orbiting. Those were the manifestations of his seven Turbid Demons, his seven Po. A golden aura began to spread around them all as those insight writings converged there. Many runes fused together while the verses from 'Death Verses' were echoing in Antique Sixian throughout his sea of consciousness.
They converged onto his Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. The bone sculpture was under a lot of pressure and began to compress. Suddenly, a powerful wave of Death Energy erupted. Cao Yun turned almost all of his Po into Death Energy. In fact, for a mere instant, all of his Po was Death Energy. But some form of equilibrium was found, and a tiny part of his Po turned back into living Po. Usually, if one's Po turned into pure Death Energy, that meant death. However, Cao Yun didn't die at all. He could now control his Death Energy as though it were living Po.
The insight writings merged into one unique rune. It was extremely complex and intricate. All of Cao Yun's knowledge of the Dao of Death was contained within it, and some more. In a way, it was very similar to what the Rune of Fire had been, it was a Rune of Death.
Just by studying it, Cao Yun deepened his understanding.
All the verses from 'Death Verses' were floating in the form of golden insight writings, orbiting around this Rune of Death. The first verse, 'See Through the Mud', was about sensing Death Energy. It turned into a strange glyph as the verse seemed to collapse onto itself. But it didn't stop there, it became a seal. Cao Yun was able to feel every strand of Death Energy that had entered the Imperial City. Even without his spiritual senses or his physical senses, Cao Yun felt a connection with them. He could literally follow their path directly into the source of the attack. However, he couldn't trace them all the way to the Empyrean Asura, the distance was still too vast.
The 'Death Reeling' verse was about controlling Death Energy just like Qi. That too evolved into a glyph and then a seal. Around Cao Yun, the various strands of Death Energy all began to be attracted to him. Everyone in the Imperial City began to feel some form of relief without being able to point out what it was. Even Sun Liao felt it. Unfortunately, Sun Liao was straining his mind and soul so much that the relief wasn't much. That being said, it was still good for him.
The 'Living Death' verse was about being able to produce one's own Death Energy by turning one's Po into Death Energy and back. That verse also became a glyph and then a seal. After all, most of Cao Yun's Po was now Death Energy. In fact, he could keep his Po in such a state for as long as he wanted. He simply needed to turn the Death Energy back into Po and his Po into Death Energy. In a sense, his soul was always changing from Po into Death Energy and Death Energy into Po. Strangely enough, this Death Energy was extremely lively within Cao Yun.
The remaining verses were visible but still a bit dim. Only the 'Soul Chains' verse was shining brightly. The verse began to distort itself as though it was trying to become a glyph, but it failed. Cao Yun wasn't quite there yet. However, he focused on this verse. As his understanding increased, the young man could see the verse changing, getting closer and closer to the shape of a glyph. Feeling the Death Energy move inside himself and outside as well, he was sensing the Dao of Death in his very flesh.
In the end, his understanding grew. Finally, he had mastered 'Soul Chains'. Maybe the chains of the Dao and the chains from his seven Turbid Demons had helped him. This verse was about manifesting one's Po physically into the world. Such manifestations weren't Qi manifestations or martial state manifestations. No, they were actual physical objects following Cao Yun's understanding of the Dao of Death. A Dao manifestation was actually reality.
Cao Yun's body was slowly recovering. Now that his Po was in constant movement, his flesh reacted. Po was the soul that generated the body while still in the womb. It was the soul that kept the body alive, but also made it rot and helped the Hun escape the carcass after death. Now that Cao Yun had a bridle on it, he could further improve his regeneration ability.
Sadly, Cao Yun still couldn't use outside Death Energy to supplement his own. But if he mastered 'Death Verses' and the Dao of Death, he might actually be able to turn death into life. Ironically, the Dao of Death could produce life. After all, the Bone Demons were made of Death Energy, and they were alive, in a way.
While Cao Yun used his own Death Energy to repair his flesh faster, he manipulated the Death Energy around him for other purposes. Feng Yingyue could see his body heal faster and faster. Although it wasn't incredibly fast, it was still impressive. Despite being happy at this sight, Feng Yingyue had a terrible sensation. After all, Cao Yun was surrounded by Death Energy. Even within, he was full of Death Energy. As such, it actually felt like he was dead. Thus, it created a stark difference between what Feng Yingyue saw and what she felt.
Around Cao Yun, Death Energy turned into actual chains. But they weren't linked to his body in any way. Those chains were simply floating around him. They looked like metal and bone at the same time. Feng Yingyue was a bit worried, but she was almost certain that Cao Yun was doing all that.
Then, the newly formed chains flew toward Sun Liao. Mei Hua almost tried to stop them. However, she stopped herself as she heard her brother's voice in his mind. This was Cao Yun's doing. His voice was still weak as using his Soul Embryo was still requiring a lot of effort. Mei Hua didn't want to strain him too much, so she warned her brothers herself. Ren Chao, who was ready to strike the chains, didn't do anything after hearing his sister. Sun Liao didn't try to resist as the chains grabbed onto his flesh. They coiled around his 'Heavenly Mirror Longbow' and appeared around the trunk of the Fusang tree.
In fact, Sun Liao began to feel them in his sea of consciousness. They coiled around his Soul Embryo. Although they were cold and dead, they seemed to calm his mind and soul. The sensation wasn't pleasant at all. His entire sea of consciousness dropped in temperature. However, it eased his strain and his pain.
Sun Liao's "Nine back at Fusang" grew stronger and stronger as his Fusang tree was getting covered in small chains. Ironically, the longer Empyrean Asura's attack lasted, the more Death Energy entered the Imperial City. This Death Energy was almost immediately controlled by Cao Yun, who used it to strengthen the chains. As such, Sun Liao's technique would grow stronger the longer it was under attack. At the same time, it was supporting his Soul Embryo. This didn't diminish the effort required by Sun Liao, but it protected his Soul Embryo. It would be much harder for his soul or Soul Embryo to be damaged. However, the sensation was extremely unpleasant.
In a sense, Sun Liao felt as though his soul was already dead. If he didn't trust his brother fully, he would have lashed out. It was like a terrible itch within his very soul. Although it wasn't painful, it was horrifying, to say the least. To be honest, Sun Liao wasn't sure which was worse. Even alive, he felt as though he was plunged into the world of the dead. From his sea of consciousness, all of his body was turning cold and stiff.
At the same time, Sun Liao's concentration was getting harder and harder to maintain, but he pushed through it. Thankfully, his own technique was also growing stronger at the same time. Besides, it was able to counter Empyrean Asura's array formation much more efficiently. Indeed, it was now strengthened by Death Energy. Besides, Cao Yun had better control over Death Energy than Empyrean Asura himself.
In Saint Citadel Sidi, Empyrean Asura felt a sense of dread slowly creeping up his spine.