Cao Yun didn't feel any remorse for what he had done. Obviously he wouldn't have killed and consumed the soul of just anyone. But those demons didn't deserve any mercy at all. Honestly, it felt refreshing to him. There wasn't any moral conundrum for the moment. Besides, the agony he felt all around him was fueling his Yin Bird. Now that the other two demons had seen their companion being burned body and soul and his blood extracted into a small bead, they were cowering in fear. After Cao Yun was done with them, nothing would remain.
Immediately, they were ready to tell him everything he wanted to know. They began to beg for their lives but it was to no avail. Cao Yun had used Zhen Moyu as a test. Now that he was perfectly confident in his ability, he didn't hesitate. His soul entered both of the demons at the same time. The same scene happened within their seas of consciousness. The giant figure of Axiu Qian shattered their very souls as the Black Heart Flame spread everywhere. The fear and agony of those two demons was consumed by Cao Yun's Yin Bird through the Drop of Wrath.
Some tiny pieces of the white bones within their dying sea of consciousness entered the massive body of the three-headed demon. They immediately merged with Cao Yun's Yin Bird. As they did, Cao Yun did feel the pain of his victims. At the moment, he was suffering just as much as they were and this was pushing his soul cultivation further and further. In fact, he also felt the agony of the people his victims had tortured and slaughtered throughout their lives.
Honestly, those two demons weren't as bad as Zhen Moyu throughout their lives. However, they had still done terrible things even before slaughtering the people lying around them at this very moment. Despite a few difficult moments in their lives, Cao Yun didn't have mercy for them. Weakness to the cruel ones was cruelty to the weak ones.
Among those two demons was Mei Qingluan, she was the leader of this small group. Born in poverty, she had fought extremely hard to become stronger and stronger. Honestly, this was admirable. But she also had no concern for those she had to crush to get to the top. As long as she could advance her career, she would torture and slaughter just anyone. Besides, killing weaker demons felt her feel superior. Her humble beginnings were still plaguing her and crushing those beneath her made her feel better about herself.
In her memories, Cao Yun obtained more information than he had with the other demons. Now, he had a good understanding of their chain of commands, of where other groups were in this region. Apparently, they were in the extreme North of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. This was the last region they had conquered. Since the war with the Hongchen Kingdom had started only a few years after this conquest, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had not been able to completely eradicate those they considered heretics. Besides, their definition of heresy had kept on extending.
The Empyrean Asura Theocracy's forces were spread thin already. Most likely, they were waiting for the end of the war to slaughter all heretics everywhere. But the army was forcing more and more demons into its ranks. Clearly, the Empyrean Asura Theocracy wasn't in a very good position. The strength of mankind had always been its unity. Even after being conquered, the demons didn't all kneel before the Empyrean Asura. A few revolts had happened even before the war. In fact, since the beginning of the war, more and more demons were opposed to it so the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had been forced to delay some battles in order to suppress those revolts.
Everything Cao Yun was learning was good news. The support for the Empyrean Asura Theocracy wasn't as important as he had thought. Still, it didn't mean that the demons were favorable to the Hongchen Kingdom or the humans. But they didn't necessarily wanted its annihilation either, especially if it was this costly. Empyrean Asura had promised a swift victory. Unfortunately, it had not worked out that way. The conflict was almost frozen.
Mei Qingluan was the only one of the group who had been active on the front lines since the beginning of the war so she had a better understanding of what was going on. Unfortunately, her rank wasn't very high. Thus, Cao Yun didn't get a great understanding of the war. That being said, he now knew where the demons were most active. They were using tunnels directly under the Subei Province. Obviously, Cao Yun recognized these tunnels straight away.
Those were the tunnels discovered by the Huang family. They were full of precious ores and spirit stones. Maybe they were affecting the array formations left behind by Emperor Nuwa and Saint Duan Huang. In fact, it was possible that the array formations themselves had helped the natural formation of those spirit stones. With Cao Yun's knowledge of array formations, this made perfect sense. That place was probably where the array formations protecting the Hongchen Kingdom were the weaker. That being said, the array formations directly around the Hongchen Kingdom weren't the only defenses humans had against demons. Besides, the tunnels limited the number of demons the Empyrean Asura Theocracy could send at a given time.
Moreover, the humans were not stupid, they knew that the demons were coming from there. They had placed large forces to fight them off. As a result, this place had turned into a vast network of trenches. No one seemed to be able to win anything there. There was only death. But Cao Yun decided that this would be the perfect place for him to go back into the Hongchen Kingdom. After all, he knew those tunnels very well thanks to the Huang family. Most likely, the Huang family had been very helpful with their knowledge of the caves.
After he was done devouring the souls of those demons, Cao Yun turned his attention toward their victims. The boy he had freed from the tree was now sitting, using this very tree to support his back. He had covered himself with some clothe and was massaging his throat and his many wounds all over his battered body. On the other hand, the girls were non responsive at all. They had barely registered what had happened around them in fact.
Seeing them in such a state gripped Cao Yun's heart. He could see the face of his sister. Deep down, he didn't want to imagine it but he did picture what it had been like for her when she had been captured. Cao Yun didn't know if she had been tortured or abused. Maybe he didn't want to know. But not knowing made him imagine worse fates every time. Most likely he soul had also been tempered with. Hopefully, her memories had simply been sealed. If that was the case, Cao Yun could easily get rid of those seals and make her regain those memories.
Looking at the poor girls, Cao Yun wondered whether it was a good thing to give his sister her memories back. All of a sudden, she would remember her family's slaughter and whatever torments she had been through. After all, Cao Yun knew that at the very least she had lost parts of her arm. He could imagine that she had suffered much more than that. As doubts began to creep up back inside his mind, Cao Yun focused on his resolve. It wasn't the moment to doubt, it was time to act!
Cao Yun's worst enemy was very close and he now had the strength to oppose him. His cultivation was going very well. Soon he wouldn't even need help to face Emperor Weide in battle. But for the time being, he had to take care of the victims in front of him.
All of Cao Yun's doubts and painful memories were feeding his Yin Bird. Ironically, the more he suffered, the stronger he was becoming. With all the pain and torment around him, it would be easy for Cao Yun to develop his Yin Bird. In fact, it would probably be fully developed and tamed by the time he reached the border of the Hongchen Kingdom. Even without doing much, just taking in the sheer desolation all around him was enough to advance his cultivation. This was possible because his mind cultivation was very good and stable. As such, Cao Yun didn't let this pain and agony overwhelm him.
Trying to help the girls, Cao Yun reached his hand toward them. Immediately, they winced and drew back from his hand. In the same movement, Cao Yun's hand drew back as well. Those poor girls were lost in their pain. Even now, they thought that their torment and abuse weren't over. Either they had not realized that Cao Yun wasn't part of the group who had tormented and tortured them, or they simply thought he was just another monster like them. For a few moments, Cao Yun stayed immobile before them.
From his spatial ring, he took out some clothes and threw them on the girls. Maybe he should just wait for them to get some rest. When the sun was up, it would be a better moment to try and talk to them. With his spiritual senses, he had made sure that there was no one nearby. Besides, Hongyu was still flying over the place. If someone tried to approach, Cao Yun would know it soon enough to act in consequence.
Now that the demons were killed and completely devoured body and soul, Cao Yun decided to take care of the other bodies. Those who had been reduced to ashes couldn't be helped of course. But he could move the dead bodies. As there were movements within the pile of bodies, he knew that some had been thrown in it alive. With his senses, it was easy to find out who was dead and who wasn't.
While he was moving the bodies, Cao Yun was being observed by the young boy. He was looking as Cao Yun was respectfully laying the bodies of those he had known all his life. Some were so broken and disfigured that even the boy couldn't recognize them. But he could make out some details here and there that told him who the body belonged to. Seeing this, the boy finally began to cry softly. All this time, he had been strong so as to not give his tormentors the satisfaction. But now he couldn't contain himself. At the same time, he didn't have the strength to go all out even when he cried. Something was still holding him back.
Since he was being careful, it took Cao Yun a lot of time. Of course, he focused on moving away those who were still alive. He set them aside and gave them pills to help them. In the end, he had rescued four people. Everyone else was dead...
Even those he had rescued were in a terrible state. Some had lot limbs or even their eyes.
Finally, Cao Yun sat down and looked at the boy. Obviously, Cao Yun couldn't stop himself from thinking about his own past. This boy had suffered even more than he had when he was a child. He had seen everyone he cared about being tortured to death and he had been tortured too. Besides, they had been betrayed by the other demons living with them in their village. In a sense, Cao Yun had also been betrayed by his own kind, through Emperor Weide. But it wasn't the same thing.
The young boy stood up and walked toward Cao Yun. He was holding some piece of clothe and was moving very slowly because of the pain. As he reached Cao Yun, the boy collapsed. Before Cao Yun could catch him, he stopped. The boy was now kowtowing in front of Cao Yun.
"Great Lord, please help me avenge my people. Please. Help me kill them all. All those who gave us to those monsters. All those who stood by doing nothing. I want them all to suffer and die as we did! Help me! Please!"
The boy's voice was breaking as he had a hard time even speaking. His throat had almost been crushed while he was kept hanging on that tree.
Once again, Cao Yun had a moral dilemma in front of him. He wanted to help this kid, but he was also afraid of what this kid would become. Looking at the boy, Cao Yun also imagined what he could have become himself. He could have turned out to be a demonic cultivator. Cao Yun could have turned against the entire Hongchen Kingdom. If he hadn't learned how to control the Drop of Wrath, he would have become a feral monster. In fact, Cao Yun even thought about what would have happened if he had been found by a demonic cultivator instead of Xiao Xuefeng.
The boy in front of him could become this feral monster. Although it could be a good thing for the Hongchen Kingdom as it would weaken the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, Cao Yun didn't want that for the boy in front of him. Unlike Cleansed Asura, Cao Yun wasn't good enough to enter the boy's memories without risking damaging his soul. After everything the boy had been through, Cao Yun would risk doing that. Thus, he relied on the memories of the demons he had killed.
Apparently, this boy was named Lan Duoyan. He was only fourteen. Cao Yun could relive what had happened to him. The demons had killed all of his family in front of him. Unfortunately, his mother had been abused and slaughtered before him too. The demons had found it very amusing that Lan Duoyan didn't cry so they tried to break him by any means possible. Everyone he cared about had been tortured and killed. He had been tortured himself of course. Those images flooded Cao Yun's mind. He could imagine what this boy would do if he had the strength to avenge them.
Cao Yun wasn't sure what to do at the moment. He couldn't waste too much time here, but he didn't want to simply abandon those he had saved. At the same time, if Cao Yun gave him strength, without guidance, this young man could become a true monster. Once again, the young man was faced with some dilemma. Even when this wasn't about politics, things could be difficult. Apparently, this was this very world that was messy. Although some things were straight forward, some were very complex.
Figuring out what the right thing to do was seemed to be a headache each time.