Cao Yun had absolutely no doubt about what was going on. His Soul Embryo was finally waken up. All the efforts he had spent over the last months had paid off. Thanks to his cultivation method, the 'Golden Hammer on Silver Rock' in particular, Cao Yun's cultivation had been sped up. But even then, it was a short time for his Soul Embryo to wake up. Clearly, his blood cultivation was also helping a lot. Practicing both the human system and the asura system was much more beneficial than Cao Yun could have imagined. And once again, he wondered what would happen if he was also able to practice the deva system. All three systems were all fragments of the system used by the Three Jade Saints.
For the moment though, Cao Yun had no time to daydream. Of course it was a good thing to advance his cultivation. After all, Cao Yun would be forced to hide his asura cultivation when he came back in the Hongchen Kingdom. As such, he would probably get weaker. Showing his asura cultivation would obviously turn a lot of people against him. Besides, he had spent a lot of time in demon territory so some people would easily believe it if someone accused him of being a traitor. The young man could imagine that the Hongchen Kingdom had turned a bit paranoid because of the spies sent by the demons.
Unfortunately, the timing was terrible. It was possible for Cao Yun to suppress the awakening of his Soul Embryo. But, first of all, it could leave some minor injuries. Although those wouldn't be too heavy, they could cause problems as Cao Yun's cultivation rose higher and higher. Moreover, healing one's Soul Embryo was almost impossible. The pills and ingredients needed were just out of reach for anyone on the Piaolu planet. Even Cleansed Asura would find them expensive and rare beyond reason.
The other problem was that suppressing his Soul Embryo's awakening would push it further in the future. His Soul Embryo might awaken in a few days or in a few months. Predicting this was also nearly impossible, if it was possible at all. Even Cleansed Asura wasn't sure that there was a method to predict it, maybe within the span of a month, but nothing very accurate.
Anyway, considering how much Cao Yun needed to improve his cultivation, he couldn't suppress his current breakthrough. However, he was in the Temple of the Lesser Blood King. And he was certain that his attack would not go unnoticed. Although no one had been able to send any message of any kind or simply survive the attack, the Yanbei region shouldn't know about it. But they wouldn't stay in the dark for very long. After all, someone was bound to discover about the attack. If Cao Yun kept the 'Dome of White Lightning' active, someone might see it but if he stopped it, someone might simply walk into the temple and find out something was amiss.
Just as it was impossible to predict how long awakening one's Soul Embryo, it was impossible to know for sure how long the breakthrough would take. At most, it could take a few weeks. And it might be enough for the Yanbei region to send reinforcements. While he would be breaking through, Cao Yun would obviously be vulnerable as most if not all his intent would be directed inward.
After a moment of hesitation, Cao Yun took his decision. He sent several array formation plates all around the Temple of the Lesser Blood to strengthen the defenses. Then he entered deep into the temple and put even more array formations all around himself. At that moment, Cao Yun was completely isolated from the outside world. Although he had not enough time to set up real array formations, the ones he had engraved in those plates were still very good. They would prevent most cultivators from getting near him. Even middle Accomplished Demons would need a long time to break them down. Hopefully they would be enough. Hopefully they wouldn't even be necessary...
As time was passing, Cao Yun could feel the pressure building up in his Huang Ting. This Yellow Court was the place right between the Middle Dantian and the Lower Dantian. And this was where his Soul Embryo had been formed and gestated. Now it was ready to fully awaken. At any moment, it would wake.
When he was finally ready, Cao Yun sat cross-legged on the floor of the temple. The array formations all around him had created an illusion as he was perfectly isolated from anything else. It was a perfectly neutral place that looked like an infinite green prairie. There were even hymns and mantras one could hear echoing throughout the land. Indeed, Cao Yun had been prepared for this moment for some time. But he had not thought that this would happen right now. He had used all the knowledge at his disposal to make sure that this breakthrough was as perfect as possible.
Cao Yun's Soul Embryo was already exceptional so he didn't want it to be injured in the slightest. In fact, if he was good enough, Cao Yun knew he could advance his cultivation further by using this breakthrough and he didn't want to waste this opportunity. Indeed, according to Cultivation of Wrath as well as a few documents Cao Yun had found in Cleansed Asura's memories, it was possible to benefit from this breakthrough.
The main manual Cao Yun had read was 'Classic of Yellow Court and Silver Light'. According to this manual, the very moment his Soul Embryo would awaken, it would produce a blinding silver light. By harnessing this light, it was possible to improve one's soul and prepare for the next stages of the Spirit Warrior realm. The idea wasn't too revolutionary of course, most cultivators knew about it. But the point was that knowing about it and knowing how to do it were two completely different concepts. Indeed, Cao Yun had never read any book or manual on how ti harness this light. But this 'Classic of Yellow Court and Silver Light' explained it in great details. It could help Cao Yun save months if not years of cultivation. Besides, he was also wondering how his asura cultivation would respond to it. This was completely uncharted territory.
Right now, Cao Yun was a 2nd-grade Spirit Warrior also called Awaken the Embryo. After that, he would need to practice Strengthen the Upper Dantian so his Upper Dantian could support the increased pressure of the Soul Embryo. This third stage was meant to prepare for the fourth one, Ascension of the Embryo. During this stage, one would definitely send their Soul Embryo to reside in their Upper Dantian, hence why it had to be strengthened. Finally, the three following stages, Impregnation of Soul, Merging of Spirits and Spiritual Harmony were all about slowly fusing one's soul with their Soul Embryo.
As long as one's Soul Embryo had been formed, it could be used to save one's soul at death. But the main goal was not just for the Soul Embryo to harbor the soul. No, the end goal was for the soul and the Soul Embryo to become one. This perfect harmony would allow one's soul to endure the death of the physical body. Then, their soul could stay alive for very long. But in the end, even the Soul Embryo, especially without a physical body to protect it, would crumble.
Cao Yun fully entered his sea of consciousness. All of his intent was on his Soul Embryo at the moment. He even used his Turbid Demons to observe his Soul Embryo. Between his two Dantian, there was a ball of silver light and all around it, seven shadows appeared. Those were Cao Yun's Turbid Demons, or to be more precise, those were Cao Yun's seven Po in their non-corrupt version. They were all bathing in the light of his Soul Embryo. As a result, Cao Yun felt that his control over his seven Turbid Demons was getting stronger and stronger. However, it didn't help him to form the seventh one fully.
With his intent, Cao Yun delicately knocked on his own Soul Embryo as though he was trying to wake up a small child by softly pushing his shoulder. He was very careful and observed absolutely every change that could occur in his entire body.
All of a sudden, his Soul Embryo exploded. Or to be exact, the light from his Soul Embryo exploded. It spread throughout Cao Yun's body with incredible strength. Even his sea of consciousness was turned silver white for an instant. This was the sign that his Soul Embryo had begun to awaken. There would be several waves of pure silver light. Although the number of waves wasn't a perfect indicator of one's strength, it still gave a good idea about it. According to what Cao Yun knew, there would be at most nine waves. Then, there would be a final wave of light that would mark the full awakening of the Soul Embryo.
Unfortunately Cao Yun had failed to harness this first wave. Indeed, even with his current mind cultivation, the light had been so intense and so brief that he had not been able to do anything. Even knowing what was to come, Cao Yun had been surprised by the phenomenon and had failed to harness anything out of this first wave. But now he knew what to expect and he was more ready than ever. Hopefully there would be enough waves to really push his cultivation further.
For what seemed like an eternity, Cao Yun cared for his Soul Embryo. He was straining his mind cultivation to its limit in order to not miss the next wave of silver light. As a result a mere hour seemed like days, weeks, even months. But Cao Yun was so engrossed in his own breakthrough that he had no time to get bored. Everything in his mind was solely focused on this event and the coming wave. Since the first wave had passed by, any wave now could be the last one. He couldn't afford to miss another one as there might not be a third wave.
Finally, the second wave came, just as abruptly as the first one. In an instant, it spread throughout Cao Yun's body and dispersed. But this time, Cao Yun was fully ready. The very moment his sea of consciousness turned silver, he circulated a few mantras. His sea of consciousness became a prison for this light. As such, his entire mind was blinded by this silver light. It even made thinking difficult. This was a kind of energy Cao Yun had never worked with. Technically, its nature wasn't new to Cao Yun who had worked with souls for a long time already. But it was just incredibly condensed. It almost turned a familiar energy into something completely foreign.
Anyway, Cao Yun didn't let it distract him. He mobilized his mind cultivation to use this light in order to strengthen his Upper Dantian. Since this energy came from his own Soul Embryo, it was perfect to prepare his already sturdy Upper Dantian for the next stages of his cultivation. The Nine Soul Peaks within Cao Yun's sea of consciousness began to absorb this silver light and started to glow. Cao Yun could also feel his Turbid Demons chained into those peaks. In fact, he even felt his Hun as well. This was a rare sensation so Cao Yun tried to make it last longer and longer without focusing too much on it so it wouldn't fade away.
With each passing instant, Cao Yun's Upper Dantian was indeed getting stronger and stronger, maybe even strong enough to harbor his full Soul Embryo. Although harnessing and using that light was strenuous on Cao Yun's mind, this very energy was also soothing his soul and strengthening it. As such, Cao Yun was feeling completely new sensations. And he was basking in them. He had never felt this good and this powerful in his entire life. Moreover, this was only the inferior stages of the third cultivation realm. Cao Yun dreamed of what reaching the legendary ninth realm of cultivation would cause in him.
As his Upper Dantian and his Turbid Demons were getting stronger and stronger, yet another wave hit. This time again Cao Yun also missed it because he was too engrossed in the phenomenon. But, thankfully, he was able to save some of it. He had failed to capture the entire wave, but he had still harnessed enough of it to improve his cultivation further. Every single one of the nine chambers of his Upper Dantian was full of silver light. This light was pushing against Cao Yun's Upper Dantian trying to break free. In fact, this was this very pressure that was strengthening his Upper Dantian while getting it used to Cao Yun's Soul Embryo.
While he was breaking through, Cao Yun felt a great pain almost splitting his skull in half but he endured. His entire head was throbbing. It was a pain he had never felt before. But despite this terrible pain, he kept on going. Then, a powerful echo resounded through his very bones, coming directly from his skull and spreading through his spine. There was no doubt about it. Cao Yun had broken through into the 4th-grade Spirit Warrior stage.
It was very weird. Indeed, Cao Yun was in the process of breaking through into the 3rd-grade Spirit Warrior by awakening his Soul Embryo. And yet, he had already achieved the goal of this third stage by strengthening his Upper Dantian. Thus, as soon as his Soul Embryo would be awakened, Cao Yun would officially be a 4th-grade Spirit Warrior. And his next goal would be to make his Soul Embryo ascend into his Upper Dantian. After that, he would have to slowly work to harmonize his own soul with his Soul Embryo. In fact, Cao Yun was also thinking about trying to harmonize not only his soul and his Soul Embryo but also his Drop of Wrath that was acting as his Demon Soul.
As the fourth wave of light hit, Cao Yun captured all of it. He realized that it had less effect on his Upper Dantian, but it was still effective nonetheless. Cao Yun would squeeze as much out of this light as he possibly could. But it was getting less and less useful so he might as well change his approach.