Because of the nature of the room, it was heavily protected by numerous array formations, as well as the very materials used in the walls themselves. This wasn't just where Yu Xiangling performed her experiments; this was also the source of the Burning Blood used by the Temple of Grace and Submission. In other words, this was where they were refining Demon God Da Mo's blood. And indeed, Cao Yun could clearly recognize the aura of the asura.
Cao Yun had been ready for many horrors, but even he was stunned. The room was very large with a small space reserved to Yu Xiangling's desk. On her desk were many reports, books, jade slips, some tools here and there as well as many stains from blood and other bodily fluids. Everything was a total mess and apart from her, no one would be able to find anything on that desk, not even the desk itself as a matter of fact.
In the center of the room though was a large pool of fresh blood. It was impossible to tell how deep it was as the blood was too thick to see through it but it was obvious that it was very deep. The powerful smell emanating from the pool suggested a vast amount of this crimson liquid. On the walls and on various small tables across the room lay the true horrors. Hundreds of corpses were disposed all over the room. Some were pinned to hooks in the walls and even the ceilings. They weren't too different from the current state of Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng. And the irony wasn't lost on Cao Yun or Yu Xiangling.
Among the corpses were many demons of different age and sex. There were men and women of course, but also boys and girls, elderly demons. Most of them were either mere mortals or early Blood Children. In other words, they weren't powerful cultivators. Most likely, they had been hunted down as heretics and either killed or tortured to death. But unlike most heretics, Yu Xiangling had asked to preserve their bodies by not burning them alive, for her experiments. The most logical explanation was that she had some need of their specific bloodline.
Indeed, Yu Xiangling had hunted specific bloodlines. Through meticulous studies, she had found the specimens she needed. Then, she simply had to ask the Heavenly Demon God Faith to take care of them. For her devious experiments, she had had many villages slaughtered, killing thousands upon thousands of innocent demons. Cao Yun was obviously repulsed.
Unfortunately, even this kind of brazen cruelty wasn't unknown to Cao Yun. In fact, he had seen much worse. However, thanks to his spiritual senses, he could feel something even more disgusting and depraved. His understanding of 'Death Verses' helped him see through it too. Within those rotting corpses, the souls of the poor victims were still trapped. Yu Xiangling had made sure to engrave seals within their flesh and bones in order to keep their souls alive and contained inside their rotting flesh. Immediately, Cao Yun could feel their suffering. All that pain was creating vast amounts of Evil Qi as well as Death Energy since their Po was slowly making their body rot but couldn't release their Hun. Even in death, they were conscious and suffering.
Most cultivators might not have perceived that, but Cao Yun could. Through his understanding of the soul and his meager knowledge of the Dao of Death, he could even hear their howls echoing within the strands of Evil Qi and Death Energy being siphoned from them. Some of them had lost all reason and were just in constant pain and agony without any memory of their previous life.
In front of such barbarism, Cao Yun didn't know what to say. He only had one goal in mind. Yu Xiangling had to pay! The frail woman was standing tall in front of him as she was holding Empyrean Asura's orb. Glimmers of red were often coming out of this black orb that was small enough to be held in her palm. From the orb, Cao Yun and Dian Mo could both feel the aura of Demon God Da Mo. There was no more doubt in their minds. Da Mo was somehow behind it. By getting Yu Xiangling's memories, they might be able to find out what the connection was precisely. If Demon God Da Mo was still alive, this current situation was a very different problem indeed. After all, Demon God Da Mo was a Reborn Demon, shy of being an Immortal Demon.
Against such a foe, no one on the Piaolu planet could stand up. So Cao Yun had to know for sure what was really going on. Maybe the Empyrean Asura had just found something from Demon God Da Mo. Hopefully this was simply that. Just like the demonic cultivators in the Hongchen Kingdom, they had gotten their hands on some legacy from the asura. If that was something else though...
Cao Yun pushed those thoughts out of his mind. For the moment, he had to deal with Yu Xiangling. All around the weak woman, there was a heavy spiritual pressure, not unlike Cao Yun's spiritual senses. In fact, even his spiritual senses were pushed back. But they were only protecting Yu Xiangling herself. And more than that, they were induced by her holding the orb. Undoubtedly, Yu Xiangling was the weak link.
Neither Yu Xiangling nor Cao Yun spoke. There was absolute silence between the two of them. As such, the pitiful wails of Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng were echoing throughout the room. Besides her on the wall were the corpses of several servants she had killed by pure pleasure. Now, there was no more pleasure in her mind. Even if she were to survive, her cultivation was destroyed. And she knew that Empyrean Asura wouldn't try to save her. He might have the power to do so, but he would have no reason to go to such lengths. In fact, he might do so for Yu Xiangling as she was so important thanks to her research. Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng's life was over, one way or another. In fact, she would rather die here on her own terms. But without her cultivation and with Cao Yun's pressure all over her, she couldn't even kill herself. She was completely powerless, a mere puppet for someone else to do what they pleased. In other words, she was just like those men and women she had enjoyed tormenting and abusing for her mere amusement. Even then, she still felt that this situation was unfair...
Those were servants and slaves, all beneath her. But she was the Holy Cardinal. Through her indignation, Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng tried to move her right arm. The swords piercing her bones and pinning her to the wall were just embedded too deep for her to move them. Besides her destroyed cultivation, she was still losing a lot of blood. Through sheer will alone, she was able to free her right hand. She didn't move the sword. No, she tore through her own wrist to get it free. With a hand free, she plunged her fingers in her very heart. She would die as she saw fit.
Just before Holy Cardinal Ling Weisheng's fingers reached her heart, she felt a powerful force repelling her hand. Her entire forearm was torn from her body and she coughed up even more blood. From her fresh wounds, more and more blood spilled on the floor. Her heavy Golden Blood caused the floor to crack even more. Slowly, her mind faded away. But Cao Yun was trying to keep her alive. He had to get her memories too. Unfortunately, he couldn't divert much of his spiritual senses from Yu Xiangling. There was no doubt that this small orb was incredibly dangerous. If he was careless, it could destroy him. Even the Drop of Wrath might not to be enough to save him. Although it would endure, it might not be able to protect Cao Yun's soul.
Slowly, Cao Yun retracted his spiritual senses from the room. Instead of encompassing the entire room, he focused it. Most of it was obviously focused around Yu Xiangling. The woman was still perfectly silent and immobile. Cao Yun couldn't even see a shred of fear in her eyes. Clearly, her faith in the Empyrean Asura Theocracy was absolute. She couldn't imagine anyone breaking through the orb's protection. And honestly, she might be right on that. Even Cao Yun was finding it difficult to just getting close to it. If he tried to approach her physically, the orb would assault his very soul as well.
Probing her, Cao Yun threw a sword directly into Yu Xiangling's heart. As soon as it got close enough to the orb, most if not all of the Qi around the sword was dispelled. Then, Yu Xiangling didn't even need to block the weapon as it collided with her own Wei Qi and didn't touch her skin. It was repelled and got stuck in the wall on her side. Even though she was weak compared with Cao Yun, she was still a Golden Blood Child after all.
Of course, Cao Yun had used all of his strength in that strike as he didn't actually want to kill Yu Xiangling. But with that probing strike, he had figured out how difficult it would be to take care of her. And doing so without killing her would be even more difficult. However, if he couldn't attack her directly, he could find someone else to do it for him...
"Do you realize how futile it is now?"
Finally, Yu Xiangling began to speak. There was still no fear in her eyes. Instead, Cao Yun saw something that sent shivers down his spine. There was curiosity in those eyes. Although her face was somber and showing her enormous fatigue, her eyes were shining as though she had found a new toy. Yu Xiangling was incredibly interested in Cao Yun.
"You were able to penetrate my array formations in order to kill Hong Yin... impressive. And you were even able to steal his memories despite the seals within his soul... remarkable. Atop it all, you entered in the innermost part of the Temple of Grace and Submission without being discovered by anyone else... genius. I can't wait to dissect your body and soul. What treasure trove of secrets will I discover... By the way, you're not a demon, are you?"
After looking at Cao Yun for some time, Yu Xiangling had been able to see through some things. But the young man couldn't accept that she had found him out so easily. His human cultivation was too well hidden. Suddenly, he wanted to know how she had found it. As much as he tried to keep his thoughts concealed, subtle movements betrayed him. Yu Xiangling saw through them and she got her answer.
"I wasn't sure, but now I am. You're human... and yet you can cultivate the asura system. Your blood must be extraordinary. You can pass off as human or asura as you see fit. With your secrets, the Empyrean Asura himself might be able to cross the array formations laid by the Hongchen Kingdom. In your blood is the key to our success. And you just brought it right to us!
"How long do you think you can keep your presence a secret? Yes, I do tend to stay in my laboratory alone for very long periods of time. But this isn't the case for this wretched woman. Soon enough someone is going to come for her. Of course, you could kill almost everyone in the temple. But as soon as you relax your spiritual senses around me, I'll activate the array formations of the entire Temple of Grace and Submission, the 'Embrace of the Loving God'. Then we'll just have to wait for reinforcements to come in. And if you try to leave, I'll just do the same thing anyway. You delivered yourself to my laboratory. That must mean that you want me to experiment on you.
"I can assure you that your blood and soul will be used for the greater good of the Heavenly Demon God. You should rejoice. Not only are you going to help such a grandiose being, you'll also advance our knowledge by leaps and bounds. Isn't it a good reason to rejoice?!"
Even faced with Cao Yun's wrath, Yu Xiangling was very calm and composed. In her eyes, Cao Yun was just another specimen to experiment with. He was no different from all the other corpses in the room. Obviously, this infuriated him to great extents. The worst part was that she wasn't trying to goad him, she was speaking truthfully. In front of her wasn't a man, she could only see a specimen to vivify. That woman was cold and emotionless. To be more precise, apart from her research, she didn't seem to care about anything else. Even Hong Yin's death had not affected her that much. Finding a great specimen had made her forget about anything else.
Cao Yun tried to use 'Weeping Demon' to assault her mind and soul. But the orb in her hand protected her against it as well.
Keeping the pressure of his spiritual senses all around Yu Xiangling, Cao Yun focused on other parts of the room. There were strands of Death Energy moving all over the room and falling directly into a few corpses on tables. They weren't like those that was still being tortured on the walls and the ceiling. No, those corpses were fanatics from the Temple of Grace and Submission who had volunteered to be turned into Supplicant Tyrants. Not unlike the other victims, their souls were trapped within their bodies, but they were willing. Death Energy and Evil Qi were being poured into them in constant streams through various seals in their flesh.
Those future Supplicant Tyrants had partial armor on, but they weren't complete in order for the flow of Evil Qi and Death Energy to be stronger.
The very first thing Cao Yun did was to destroy those seals. He knew enough about seals and Death Energy to do so. Unraveling some of the Evil Qi, he turned it back into Qi just before it could enter the corpses. This sudden ingestion of Qi caused various problems and the seals got destroyed in a very short time.
Obviously, Yu Xiangling noticed. For the first time, she was upset.
"You...! You want to destroy my work as retaliation?! I can assure you that you will pay for it. Once I'm done studying you, I'll play with your soul. Your torments will be legendary, I can swear to it!"
Ignoring her, Cao Yun kept on going. He had found how to piss her off and he wasn't going to stop!