At this point, Cao Yun had already advanced by leaps and bounds. Of course his human cultivation wasn't as high as his asura cultivation, but, to be fair, the Drop of Wrath had helped him develop his blood cultivation along with the Weaver of Souls' mind and soul cultivation technique. And this very blood cultivation had played a huge role in the progress he had just experimented.
The ninth wave hit Cao Yun. It burst out from his Soul Embryo with so much strength and violence, it did destroy the dome of fire around his Nine Soul Peaks. This time, Cao Yun wasn't able to suppress it at all. It simply escaped his sea of consciousness and created a powerful shockwave around his physical body. Without the array formations around Cao Yun, the entire room he was in would have collapsed in an instant. But his array formations endured. That being said, they were getting weaker and weaker.
For some time Cao Yun wasn't too sure about the final wave. That was when he realized that his Soul Embryo had already fully awaken. Indeed, this ninth wave was in fact the last one. Thus, Cao Yun had experimented eight full waves before the final one. Honestly he was a bit disappointed, but at the same time, the waves were now too much for him to do anything about them. Besides, this disappointment lasted only a fraction of a second.
Indeed, as his Soul Embryo was fully awake, Cao Yun could feel a huge change. His mind and souls were both much more powerful. The very world around him felt different, more focused. Even his perception of his own body seemed deeper. Right now, Cao Yun could feel in great details every single cell in his body. In fact, he could even feel the components of those cells. He could feel them moving around in his body and he could feel them splitting apart to form new cells while older ones crumbled their own walls to die out. He could quite literally feel his consciousness in each and every cell in his body as though each one was him. Such a sensation was simply impossible to explain.
After that, Cao Yun still didn't open his eyes. He focused his intent in his Nine Soul Peaks. Right away he could tell that they were more powerful than before. Since each one was representing a part of his soul, this wasn't too surprising. Some of the spiritual energy released by his Soul Embryo was still retained within the Nine Soul Peaks. By extension, his Turbid Demons were stronger but the chains holding them too so there was no risk involved. Unfortunately, his last Turbid Demon, the Devouring Robber, still wasn't fully formed but it was getting closer to completion.
Then, he focused on his Soul Embryo in particular. It had not changed its shape. Even now it was a small infant with no distinctive feature at all. Thus, it would be Cao Yun's goal to mold it into his own soul. For that, there were many techniques as a 5th-grade Spirit Warrior, but Cao Yun had his own ideas. From his understanding of 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks', 'Classic of Yellow Court and Silver Light' and 'Sixty-Two Transformations of Soul and Mind', the young man had gotten a great idea.
One's soul was divided into two large soul, Po the Metal Corporeal Soul and Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul. Po itself was divided into seven parts and each one represented earthly emotions, desires and needs. It was the basis of the creation of life, its nurturing, its continuation, but also its end and decomposition. On the other hand, Hun was divided into three parts, Tai Guang the Great Light, Shuang Ling the Bright Spirit, and You Jing the Dark Essence. Those three Hun represented heavenly aspirations. As such, those two souls were complementing each other. Their very interaction was the cause for one's ego.
Cao Yun had already mastered most of his Po and had literally recreated it within the Drop of Wrath, turning it into his own Demon Soul. Obviously, he had a similar idea about his Soul Embryo. If he could somehow duplicate his Hun into the Soul Embryo, he would have the same two souls. And then, by making them interact with each other, he would have a complete soul. Since the 5th-grade Spirit Warrior stage was known as Impregnation of Soul, it was clear that its goal was to turn one's Soul Embryo into a real soul. One would have to slowly use their soul to make the Soul Embryo into another soul for themselves. Later on, both would merge.
Considering that one's soul couldn't survive long outside of their body, the humans were cultivating this Soul Embryo to replace their original soul. But obviously, it had to be their own soul within or they would simply cease to be. Some cultivators were simply too scared and this fear prevented them from going forward. Honestly, it was a bit scary for people who didn't understand the concept of souls. But Cao Yun had played around with it a lot and had realized something very profound. He had realized that everything he thought was him came from those souls and their interactions. Thus he wasn't too afraid to lose himself because there was no self to lose. The interactions would simply change, but they were always changing. Indeed, those interactions were incredibly complex as even within a single Po or Hun, there were also many interactions. Most likely, those souls could be further divided into countless fragments of soul.
His main idea was to make his Soul Embryo into his Hun and his Demon Soul into his Po. Then, they would naturally attract each other in order to become whole. Then, he would mix his own soul in them and the merging would become much easier. In fact, Cao Yun was already thinking about the Three Jade Saints' Perfect Soul, also known as Hun Po. There was no mystery in his mind as to why its very name was made up of Hun and Po. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no reference when it came to the devas who supposedly had inherited from this Perfect Soul. Still, he wanted to form one that was as close to it as possible.
From his Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun pulled some tiny droplets of blood and sent them directly into his Soul Embryo. Then, he used some of the spiritual energy he had harnessed to send it into the Drop of Wrath. Already he could feel a tiny pull between those two souls. Since he had some experience with duplicating his Po into the Drop of Wrath, Cao Yun hoped that duplicating his Hun into his Soul Embryo wouldn't be too difficult. And he already began by circulating his Five Aspects.
As though he was starting his mind and soul cultivation anew, Cao Yun tried to draw the five characters of the first layer of 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks', 'Discipline the Five Children' into his Soul Embryo. It wouldn't take too long. After that, he would simply focus on the duplicate of Hun the Wood Ethereal Soul. His plan was very clear and he couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't work. The main problem he could see was that he would need to wait for his two cultivation systems to reach a specific level. His asura cultivation had to be at the 9th-grade Accomplished Demon stage when his Demon Soul was complete. And his human cultivation had to be at the 7th-grade Spirit Warrior stage just before harmonizing his Soul Embryo and his soul.
When it came to his asura cultivation, Cao Yun wasn't afraid that it would be too slow. But his human cultivation could delay him a bit. Only when both his Demon Soul and Soul Embryo were ready to merge could Cao Yun progress further. But to be fair, going further than the 9th-grade Accomplished Demon stage would be as hard as ascending into Heaven. Indeed, it was still the Forsaken Dao Era. Maybe his Drop of Wrath would help him as it belonged to an asura who had crossed this threshold, but Cao Yun couldn't be sure. No one had ever crossed this boundary for millenniums.
Despite his more than successful breakthrough, Cao Yun stayed in meditation for quite some time in order to stabilize himself. He also tried to contact Dian Mo.
"Boy... this is impressive! I didn't think you would reach such height in so little time..."
Hearing the faint voice of Dian Mo, Cao Yun had to admit that he was getting emotional. In that voice he could still hear some pain and injury but Dian Mo was clearly back. Demon King Mo Wang was absolutely gone for sure but Dian Mo had endured.
"What?! Don't tell me you're going to shed a tear for old me..."
Even Dian Mo was emotional of course.
"It's been a long time, a very long time. It's amusing. The first time we've met you wanted to take over my body, and yet I've missed you when you were gone."
"Well, kid, forget about that. I have no interest in your body anymore. In fact, I think we should renegotiate. I'd like to stay with you... I'm certain I'll see and experience much more with you than if I ever had a new body."
Clearly Dian Mo was a bit embarrassed but Cao Yun could tell he was genuine. All those years trapped into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom had made him both yearn for freedom and fear it at the same time. Most likely, the fact that he almost died for good had also made him reflect on his aspirations. Apparently, fear had taken over. Dian Mo had absolutely no desire of leaving Cao Yun's sea of consciousness. From there, he could experience many things and read many books and manuals while feeling safer. The outside world was scary.
"I see... Well, it's nice to have someone to talk to. By the way, I'd like your opinion on some seals I've encountered."
Cao Yun showed Dian Mo the seals he had found in the priests of the Heavenly Demon God Faith. For quite some time, Dian Mo was silent as he played around with the seals.
"Yes, they come from my former master. I can't be mistaken about it at all. Only Demon God Da Mo could have made those seals, his very intent is present in them. And I can assure you that no one on the Piaolu planet could have duplicated it or even harnessed it. Well... maybe that Luoming Tian could now that he took over another body of his. But apart from that man, I don't think anyone else could do so."
Cao Yun thought about it. Maybe Luoming Tian was behind it all. The demonic cultivators had found a library that belonged to Demon God Da Mo and had used it to become stronger. This had helped Luoming Tian find the body Demon God Da Mo wanted to grow back from his blood essence. They had also found the Blood Runes technique in that library and many more things. Maybe Luoming Tian was using this knowledge even from under the Empyrean Human Emperor Seal, but it seemed unlikely. This Empyrean Human Emperor Seal had sealed an even stronger existence.
There were other alternatives. It was possible that someone else had helped the demonic cultivators find the library. In fact, Cao Yun suspected as much. And this someone could be Empyrean Asura. Indeed, destabilizing the Hongchen Kingdom was his goal. Clearly, the demonic cultivators had weakened the Hongchen Kingdom. But Cao Yun had no certainty. For now, he was only dealing with possibilities. Besides, if Empyrean Asura had helped the demonic cultivators find the library, he probably knew about the body of Demon God Da Mo and was doing nothing about it, it didn't make any sense. Or maybe he didn't know about the content of the library, just that it existed. Or a third party was behind both the demonic cultivators and Empyrean Asura. Still, those were just conjectures. After all, those events could also be unrelated.
That being said, Cao Yun found it hard to believe. The apparition of Empyrean Asura and the discovery of the hidden library were so close together, it felt as though they were connected. But Cao Yun would find the truth right away. Besides, he had no intention of facing Empyrean Asura right now. Even though he was powerful, Cao Yun was convinced that Empyrean Asura was much stronger. And he was absolutely right.
Since Dian Mo was back, Cao Yun let him see his own memories. It would take some time, but soon Dian Mo would know exactly what Cao Yun had gone through. Then, he might be able to help the young man better.
As Cao Yun was stabilizing his cultivation, conjecturing about what was going on on the Piaolu planet and helping Dian Mo, something was happening outside of his array formations. And he felt it when the green scenery around it began to crack. Just as if he was in the center of a ball of glass, Cao Yun saw many cracks appear all over the place. At first he thought that it was due to his breakthrough, but it wasn't just that. Indeed, he immediately felt an aura go through the cracks. It belonged to Hongyu and it was weak.
Outside of the Temple of the Lesser Blood King, Hongyu had stood guard for her brother. And at this very moment, Cao Yun could feel that her life was in danger. The aura he could sense was faint and the Evil Qi within had almost extinguished everything else. In other words, she had pushed both her Evil Core and Wrath Core to the limit and had still failed. Considering her current strength and the small army of demonic beasts with her, Cao Yun knew that her enemies were either too many or too strong.
Wasting no time at all, Cao Yun took out brand-new clothes out of his spatial ring as well as his weapons. Behind him three layers of lightning swords were rotating, forming three concentric circles. In his hands he was holding 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' and his Spear Heart was on full display. A golden aura was surrounding him and one could even hear faint hymns and mantras coming out of his very soul. Those came from the scripture formed by his Spear Heart.
With his recent breakthrough, Cao Yun was impatient to use his full strength and see how far he had progressed.