Empyrean Asura was covered in fresh blood, but a repugnant smell of decaying flesh spread everywhere. His body couldn't handle his Demon Soul. Clearly, Demon God Da Mo was already going all-out. He wielded two swords, serrated and covered in his own blood. For Cao Yun, it reminded him of the weapons used in the Desolate Sepulcher. For demons, it was very common in battle to try to bleed their opponents to death. Besides, it was also obvious that this weapon would introduce Demon God Da Mo's blood into the wounds. Although it wasn't a poison per se, it would still be a huge problem.
Before anyone could act, Empyrean Asura struck. He moved faster than Cao Yun had imagined. Thankfully, it wasn't too fast, and the young man could still follow him and react in time. Indeed, Empyrean Asura went straight for Cao Yun even though he was a bit behind Sect Leader Xuan and Matriarch Huang. Both of them were ready to intercept him, but he suddenly altered his trajectory. With a violent movement, hundreds of drops of blood flew toward Sect Leader Xuan and Matriarch Huang. They turned into small darts.
Matriarch Huang whipped the air in front of her with her iron fan. A terrifying heat scalded all the blood that vaporized in an instant. On the other hand, Sect Leader Xuan opened his umbrella, and all the blood splattered over it. It sizzled, and Sect Leader Xuan immediately spun his umbrella so fast that all the blood got ejected. Then, the two Spirit Warriors turned back toward Empyrean Asura, but he was already on his actual target.
Empyrean Asura attacked Emperor Weide. This was very good news for many reasons. First of all, the fact that he was going after one target at a time proved that he wasn't confident enough to take on the four of them. Maybe he was just trying to avoid being injured, but his clear disregard for his physical body suggested otherwise. A soul outside a body would deteriorate much faster. Although his Demon Soul was powerful, it was also very clearly damaged. Once his current body was dead, his Demon Soul had to find another host quickly. Every weakness the humans could exploit was great.
More than that, Empyrean Asura attacking Emperor Weide was exactly what they all wanted. Cao Yun hated it, but they had to use it.
'Domain of the Three Confluences'!
Now that he was a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior, his pseudo-Domain was even more powerful. Indeed, the Sage realm was the realm where a cultivator would start cultivating their Domain. Only a Monarch could actually manifest it, but a Sage could already manifest things from his sea of consciousness. In fact, one of the wonders of this stage was the ability to introduce material objects into one's sea of consciousness as the basis for the pagoda a cultivator would build floor by floor.
Sect Leader Xuan could sense how space was being bent by Emperor Weide. Empyrean Asura also sensed the pseudo-Domain, but it was too late. Emperor Weide had activated it at the very last moment. That being said, Empyrean Asura had a lot of momentum and was circulating all of his blood cultivation.
'Celestial Heretic Twin Heavens Scripture - Heaven Butcher'!
His twin blades slashed toward Emperor Weide one after the other. However, they seemed to hit at the very same time. Emperor Weide was prepared for an attack, but he couldn't find any opening even while seeing the two blades moving. Even with his Sword Spirit, he couldn't see through this technique. Empyrean Asura was using his own blood to mask the attack. It was difficult to see exactly where the actual blades were at any given moment. Besides, his thick killing intent was altering Emperor Weide's senses.
Seeing that he couldn't dodge the two attacks, Emperor Weide acted immediately. With no hesitation, he flew forward. As soon as the first sword collided with his neck, he moved his body. Instead of slashing through his flesh, the sword crashed into a bone. Emperor Weide contracted all his muscles around his shoulder and neck as he felt his collarbone beginning to crack. Now he could deal with the other sword. Emperor Weide's sword made contact with the other twin blade. As the weapons collided, a huge shockwave shook the entire pseudo-Domain.
As he was in pain, Emperor Weide had a hard time stabilizing his pseudo-Domain. At this very moment, darkness fell over his 'Domain of the Three Confluences'. All of space became more viscous. While Emperor Weide could move with no problem at all, Empyrean Asura felt as if the air had turned solid. All of his movements were more difficult. It completely threw him off, and he failed to avoid Emperor Weide's counter-attack.
'Fate-Splitting Truth'!
For a split second, space truly became solid around Empyrean Asura. He could clearly feel it.
'The Shell Encompasses the World'!
Sect Leader Xuan had fully opened his umbrella, and the shape of a giant black tortoise had appeared over the battlefield. With his newly found understanding of the Dao of Space, Sect Leader Xuan could use this technique at a completely different level. If he had comprehended even more of it, Sect Leader Xuan was certain he could crush Mortal Warriors to death just with the strength of the Dao of Space.
Emperor Weide's sword was aimed directly at Empyrean Asura's heart. For a demon, this was most likely the weakest point. To be fair, the weakest point was the head, as destroying one's head would annihilate their sea of consciousness. But Demon God Da Mo was possessing the body of Empyrean Asura. And it was obvious that his Demon Soul was actually in his heart. As such, Emperor Weide was trying to obliterate him directly.
Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. The blood on Empyrean Asura solidified.
'Divine Corpse Burial Armor'.
Emperor Weide's sword stabbed forward. Even with all of his strength, he wasn't able to pierce that crimson armor. It cracked, and Emperor Weide's sword did move forward, but it was too little. Emperor Weide's sword was stuck in the blood armor of his enemy. Likewise, Empyrean Asura's blade was stuck in his enemy's shoulder. Unfortunately, Empyrean Asura had two blades. Emperor Weide didn't hesitate, he let go of his sword and grabbed both arms of Empyrean Asura.
Empyrean Asura's flesh was stronger than Emperor Weide's, but he was being suppressed both by the 'Domain of the Three Confluences' and 'The Shell Encompasses the World'. Sincerely, he was getting both frustrated and a bit worried. He had to get out of it as fast as possible. Thus, the blood covering his body began to literally boil. Emperor Weide could feel his skin melt as he was grabbing the demon's arms, but he could also feel that it was affecting his very soul. His Po was turning into Turbid Demons. In particular, his Flying Poison was getting stronger and stronger. If such an attack persisted, he wouldn't be able to hold his pseudo-Domain very long.
Sensing his opponent's weakness, Empyrean Asura manifested two other arms made of his own blood. Each arm had another serrated sword.
'Crimson Samsara'!
Both swords slashed horizontally. One was aimed at Emperor Weide's throat while the other was aimed at his flank. With a powerful kick, Emperor Weide threw himself away from Empyrean Asura while rotating his body. The two blades slashed through empty air above and below him as he was now horizontal to the ground. But they suddenly rotated and were ready to slash vertically to cut him in half.
'Mandate-Carrying Step'!
Emperor Weide appeared behind Empyrean Asura with a new Spirit Sword in hand and slashed his back, aiming for his heart once more.
'Duty-Inscribing Cut'!
This attack was meant to cut one's soul, not just one's flesh.
'Blood Eclipse'!
Emperor Weide's entire sea of consciousness fell into a strange red darkness. In the infinite sky, a red moon made entirely of blood was sending red light in every direction. His Turbid Demons all acted up, and his Flying Poison fully manifested. Before he realized it, Emperor Weide felt a tiny blade stabbed into his flank. While he had been moving, Empyrean Asura had hit him without him noticing it at the time. His sea of consciousness was under attack.
Despite his will, Emperor Weide had no other choice. He released his 'Domain of the Three Confluences'.
'Sixfold Slaughter'!
Six arms and swords were now manifested from Empyrean Asura's blood. He was about to massacre Emperor Weide, who was fighting inward.
As soon as the pseudo-Domain collapsed, intense heat swallowed Empyrean Asura.
'Fenghuang Soars From Kunlun'!
A literal True Fiery Fenghuang appeared and went straight for Empyrean Asura. It was Matriarch Huang herself. Not only had she thrown an iron fan toward Empyrean Asura, but she had also flown in his direction, ready to counter him.
'Divine Corpse Dance'!
The iron fan cut through Empyrean Asura with no problem at all. His entire body was vaporized in an instant. Everyone was shocked, except for Cao Yun. Seeing that no one had realized, he quickly sent his thoughts to his comrades.
"Behind you!"
Although she didn't sense anything at all, Matriarch Huang listened to Cao Yun. In her other hand, she was still holding an iron fan. It spun so fast that it emitted many sparks just as Matriarch Huang used it as a shield.
'Bright Dawn Wheel'.
Empyrean Asura was indeed behind her. She had only vaporized a fake body made entirely of blood. As she blocked six swords that fell upon her iron fan like one, she felt another presence. The vaporized blood flowed through her flames and tried to enter her body.
'Scorched Earth'!
With a powerful rotation, Matriarch Huang literally used the six swords to create even more sparks and flames. With her partial mastery of the Dao of Fire, she pushed the heat and the flames as far as she could. Her entire body rotated and pushed the six swords, and by extension, Empyrean Asura himself, away from her. Even the ominous presence in her flames was finally extinguished.
'The Snake's Tail'!
Leaving no respite to Empyrean Asura, Sect Leader Xuan suddenly stabbed forward with the base of his umbrella that ended with a small blade. As if weakened by all this fighting, Empyrean Asura didn't even try to dodge. Immediately, Sect Leader Xuan sensed that something was wrong. Unfortunately, it was too late, his umbrella pierced through Empyrean Asura's heart. However, there was nothing but blood. Once again, it was simply a blood copy of Empyrean Asura. But this time, the blood grabbed Sect Leader Xuan and suddenly erupted. It coiled around the weapon and went toward the old man.
'The Breeze Takes Away the Shell'!
With all his strength, Sect Leader Xuan threw away his umbrella in a random direction. The umbrella turned into a massive black shell while red blood was slowly corroding it. Cao Yun could tell that this wasn't a random direction. Space itself curved under his master's Dao of Space. The umbrella followed Empyrean Asura's killing intent. Suddenly, it crashed toward the ground. Indeed, Empyrean Asura was in fact trying to get out of the Devil's Jail.
Somehow, he had been able to hide his presence in this sea of killing intent, but Sect Leader Xuan found him. All the Sages had used their most powerful techniques and manifestations of the Dao. And yet, they had not even fought the actual Empyrean Asura. Now that he had been found out, Empyrean Asura turned all the blood covering his body into two large swords. Without this armor of blood, his flesh was clearly dying, literally rotting while he was alive. Here and there, his skin was cracked like porcelain, and a pungent smell disgusted everyone.
'Heaven Butcher'!
His swords slashed the umbrella, crashing toward him. With this move, his swords moved so fast that they appeared to slash at the same time. However, the four humans could tell that this wasn't the case. Empyrean Asura always kept a sword ready to block. Of course, it was part of his martial art, but it also meant that he was wary. He knew that his opponents couldn't be trifled with. Once again, it gave them hope for the battle. Moreover, Cao Yun had not even fought yet. Emperor Weide, Sect Leader Xuan, and Matriarch Huang clearly wanted to exhaust Empyrean Asura as much as they could before Cao Yun acted. After all, Cao Yun was more powerful than any one of them.
There was another reason they wouldn't have admitted to the young man, but that he had already figured out. All three of them could die in this battle, but Cao Yun couldn't. The Hongchen Kingdom needed him, no matter what.
Sect Leader Xuan's umbrella got sliced apart. Several parts of it crashed downward and caused tremors throughout the entire Heidai Peak. Although it barely inconvenienced Empyrean Asura, it kept him busy just long enough for the three Sages to surround him. Although they had never trained together prior to this, they were exceptional fighters. In a matter of days, they had been able to figure out a few battle formations.
Emperor Weide's seals appeared and suppressed Empyrean Asura's will. Matriarch Huang's flames unleashed all of their heat, while Sect Leader Xuan was focusing both of those attacks onto Empyrean Asura through his manipulation of space itself. The image of a black shell appeared around Empyrean Asura. On the shell, there were runes from Emperor Nuwa herself. On nine points, small fiery birds were spreading their wings. From those wings, flames entered the shell. The black shell became red hot. Within, Empyrean Asura was covered in flames, his movements were hindered by space, and his very will was under attack.