Outside of the room, the two guards were very anxious. They knew that they had no choice to act as they had toward Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng. Despite their best efforts to be as cordial, polite and respectful as possible, they also knew that Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng was one to keep a grudge. Hopefully, Yu Xiangling would keep them under her care or they could imagine a terrible fate. Many stories were going around about this beautiful woman and her tastes. Those guards didn't want to know whether those were true or not firsthand...
Behind them was a heavy door made out Void Nurtured Platinum. It was almost pure and engraved with complex seals that would not only block but also assault any soul trying to go through it. Besides, the doors themselves didn't let any vibration through so no sound could exit the room. Despite the volume of the two women's argument, no one could hear them at all. And this was why Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng allowed herself to break her usual composure.
From within Yu Xiangling's stained and wrinkled robe, she took out a small wooden box. Although she had a spatial ring, she had kept this item close to her and didn't store it within the black and golden ring on her finger. Immediately, Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng recognized the emblem on the wooden box. It was the personal seal of the Empyrean Asura, the absolute ruler of the entire theocracy. Not only was he the political and religious leader of all the demon territories, he was also considered to be the avatar of the Heavenly Demon God, Demon God Da Mo, on the Piaolu planet.
Just seeing this emblem made Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng go silent. Then, she was forced to kneel. Being in the presence of this emblem made that she was in the presence of the Empyrean Asura himself. Using a fake emblem would entail the worst possible fate within the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, so even Yu Xiangling wouldn't dare do that. Besides, Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng knew that Yu Xiangling was highly valued by the Saint Citadel Sidi. Unfortunately, she now realized that even her understanding of the woman's value had been wrong. She was much more important in fact.
Without any hesitation or any mark of respect, Yu Xiangling opened the wooden box. In it, there was a small black orb with red luster. Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng had already met the Empyrean Asura of course, as she was in charge of the third greatest temple in the entire Empyrean Asura Theocracy. And in that orb, she sensed his presence. This orb was some form of trump card to defend Yu Xiangling's life.
Since Yu Xiangling feared for her life to the point where she took out this trump card, Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng began to consider her positions.
"Stupid tramp! I helped design the array formations protecting your Temple of Grace and Submission and I'm in charge of them. I know how powerful they are. And yet, there is not a single doubt in my mind that someone was able to bypass them to get to Hong Yin. Then, it means that they were able to find out how to enter without being detected from his very mind. If they could infiltrate and assault Hong Yin, now that they had this knowledge, they could enter in person, physically. Do you realize what this mean? Or are yours brains too rotten for that?!"
Before Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng could retort, the heavy doors of the laboratory slightly opened. In her fury, Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng lashed out toward the guards. But at the same time, Yu Xiangling's face turned pale as death. The woman whispered some frightened words to herself.
"You idiot... You should have activate the array formation..."
Unfortunately, Yu Xiangling was still only a late Golden Blood Child. She didn't have the strength to activate the entire array formations easily. But Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng could have in a matter of minutes. Without anyone's assistance, the array formations would only activate if they detected an intruder or an attack. Unfortunately, Cao Yun and Dian Mo had discovered how to get inside without triggering it thanks to Hong Yin's memories. Once inside, it was easier for Cao Yun not to be detected just by using his stealth. And it wasn't all he could do.
"Incompetent fools! How dare you disturb...?!"
Before she could finish her sentence, Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng felt a tingling sensation all over her body. A wave of Qi went through her. Then, she saw the headless corpses of the two guards. There was not a single drop of blood but their heads were simply gone. Looking at the ground, she saw those heads gently placed at their feet. With their armors on, she couldn't see it, but both of their chests had bee stabbed from the front and their hearts had also exploded in their rib cages. And yet, there was not a single trace of blood.
Suddenly, the doors closed. And Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng realized what that tingling sensation had been. A young man was standing in front of her with a plate in his hand, an array formation plate. He had just activated one all around the room. Despite the existence of the complex web of array formations, this young man had been able to force his array formation plate to overtake them. Only Yu Xiangling recognized it, it was the Void Island array formation, a 5-star Heaven array formation. Engraving it into a plate was extremely difficult and yet it had achieved a Pristine quality. In other words, this young man was at least a 5-star Heaven array formation master or higher. He might really compare to her in terms of mastery. But the real problem was that his cultivation was clearly much higher. Thankfully, she had taken the Empyrean Asura's orb.
Within this Void Island array formation, nothing from the outside could come in but nothing could come out either. It was meant to cultivate, but it was also used to isolate anyone. Right now, it served Cao Yun's purposes very well. Since this room was infused with Void Nurtured Platinum, it increased the effect of his array formation even more. Besides, Cao Yun wasn't too worried about the two guards outside. Indeed, from Hong Yin's memories, he knew that no one was authorized to get close to those doors without the direct permission of Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng.
As it turned out, Cao Yun had been observing her using his 'Ashen Feather Seal' for several hours now.
-
It took Cao Yun and Dian Mo a few hours to use Hong Yin's memories to devise a plan of action. With the time they had already spent studying the array formations, it really wasn't too difficult for them to figure out how not to be discovered while entering the Temple of Grace and Submission. With his stealth, Cao Yun was very confident that no cultivator within the temple could find him, so he only had to worry about the array formations outside. And within Hong Yin's memories, he also found out that those array formations were not as good detecting threats within.
Despite his lack of talent, Hong Yin often liked to listen to Yu Xiangling each time he had to interact with her. And the woman was very passionate about her work. Since she knew for a fact that Hong Yin couldn't understand most of what she said and that he had seals that would prevent anyone from stealing his memories, she was very talkative. Apart from the old man, she couldn't interact with most priests because they were either too afraid of Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng or clearly showed their lack of interest. On the other hand, Hong Yin always listened to her intently even when he couldn't understand a word. He admired her hard work as well as her talent, maybe even more.
Hong Yin had known many who didn't cultivate their talents and simply got higher and higher on talent alone, neglecting hard work. On the other hand, Hong Yin had no talent whatsoever and had to rely on pure hard work. Meeting a lady who had both qualities made him like her instantly. And she was so passionate when she talked, he felt like a grandfather listening to the rumblings of his dotted granddaughter. Most likely, Yu Xiangling also felt the same. Apart from her work nothing really mattered but she had to admit that the tensions with Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng had put a lot of stress on her, Hong Yin helped her alleviate this stress.
Thanks to that, Cao Yun had some great insights on the array formations even though he couldn't decipher everything. He had been very lucky when he had found this old man. For a moment, he had almost felt bad but then he remembered the horrific scenes in the old man's memories. He wasn't some gentle grandfather, he was also a disgusting monster when it came to heretics. And Cao Yun also saw many corpses in Yu Xiangling's laboratory when they were talking together. Hong Yin didn't even consider those corpses to be demons like him. On the walls, there were men, women, children, elderly. But they were nothing to Hong Yin because they had rejected the Heavenly Demon God, and they were nothing to Yu Xiangling because they were just materials for her research on the soul and blood.
Using every memory he could from the old man, Cao Yun and Dian Mo were able to infiltrate the array formations around the Temple of Grace and Submission. Ironically, they were called 'Embrace of the Loving God' and were almost a 1-star Spirit array formation. By refining them a bit further, they might have reached this grade in time. But Cao Yun would make sure that no one was there to improve upon it.
With his full 'Ashen Feather Seal', Cao Yun entered the Temple of Grace and Submission without being discovered by any demon, and he was also able to trick the 'Embrace of the Loving God'. From there, he knew enough of the layout of the temple to find Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng's personal chambers.
Cao Yun could have attacked her right there, but this wasn't his goal. Now, he wanted to get Yu Xiangling above all else. Although Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng might know more about the Empyrean Asura Theocracy as an institution, Yu Xiangling was clearly much more knowledgeable when it came to array formations, seals and Death Energy. This was what Cao Yun was after at the moment. In the best case scenario, he could get both of them at the same time. So Cao Yun was patient.
When Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng called a servant in her chambers, Cao Yun was able to enter with him without being detected by anyone. Then, he was able to see the corpse of two male servants that had been horribly tortured. Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng was naked on her bed and the young man could vividly imagine everything that had happened. With his spiritual senses, it was as though the scene was still happening right in front of his eyes. But there was nothing to do, the two young servants were dead, and they had died in horrible ways. Even Hong Yin despised Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng's ways, albeit for different reasons than Cao Yun.
Controlling his killing intent, Cao Yun watched the holy cardinal as she bathed in fresh blood once more. For hours, he observed her, wanting to strike her down at every single second. Despite her beautiful and enticing body, Cao Yun wasn't charmed at all. First of all, he had already seen women as beautiful, and even more. But more than everything else, he knew what she truly was. No amount of beauty or seduction could cover her atrocities.
Finally, Cao Yun's patience was rewarded when Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng stormed toward Yu Xiangling's laboratory. At first, Cao Yun thought that it was too good to be true. But it was indeed true. The young man prepared himself to strike. With the two of them in the same room, he would accomplish all of his goals at the same time.
-
Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng tried to oppose Cao Yun. From her part of her body, she circulated her Golden Blood. All over her perfect red skin, golden lines started to appear. But Cao Yun didn't leave her any chance at all. To be fair, she had none to begin with.
Several swords appeared from thin air and stabbed her in the chest, directly in her heart. They also pierced through he shoulders, elbows, hands, hips, knees and feet. The woman was immediately pinned to a wall, all the swords stabbing through her bones and flesh. Then, she felt Cao Yun's spiritual senses spread through her body. In a matter of seconds, he completely destroyed her cultivation foundation, assaulting her marrow and her organs. With his knowledge of cultivation, Cao Yun could easily do so to a much inferior cultivator.
Combining the surprise and both of his cultivation systems, taking care of an early Accomplished Demon was no problem at all. Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng's blood was flowing all over her voluptuous body. Her very Golden Blood fell to the ground. Each drop was as heavy as a rock, they crashed on the ground, leaving tiny marks over time. When they touched the ground, they exploded into small puddles of blood. Indeed, each drop was so condensed that it contained almost an entire shao* of Golden Blood. It was around 200 times more than a drop of mortal blood. But Cao Yun's Golden Blood was even more dense and condensed.
As soon as Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng was dealt with, Cao Yun's spiritual senses focused on Yu Xiangling. Her cultivation was almost nonexistent for someone like Cao Yun, she could have been a mere mortal in his eyes. But he immediately felt the presence emanating from the orb in her hands. Deep in his sea of consciousness, Dian Mo felt it too. This was undoubtedly Demon God Da Mo's presence, right in front of them. Only then did Cao Yun begin to see her as a threat. As he became more focused on her, his senses also made him aware of the entire room and what horrors were in there.
* 1 shao ~= 10 mL