Revolt against the Heavens

The Monastery of Bliss and Repose had been completely closed and every Sister in the order was wearing white. The funerals would last for six months so everyone could come from very corner of the Desolate Sepulcher. All the city lords of the Nalupu Kingdom would be present, even Lord Wanghuo himself. But they would not be the only ones. Even the nomadic tribes would send representatives. After all, the Sisters of the Abyss were the official religion of every demon in the Desolate Sepulcher. And it had become even more true under High Mother Qin Xue.

Her ambitions had pushed her to eradicate any other religious organization. And she had also made sure that no one from the Empyrean Asura Theocracy could preach on her land. She was perfectly fine with accepting their money, but she and Lord Wanghuo always made sure that they never sent anyone. Moreover, crossing the Divine Blood Ocean was almost impossible without the knowledge of the Nalupu Kingdom. They were the only ones with the navigators who could sail those waters with any chance of survival. And this was also the reason why Cao Yun needed their help.

Speaking of Cao Yun, he reorganized the Sisters of the Abyss by controlling High Mother Lisha. All the Sisters who had witnessed the fight between him and former High Mother Qin Xue and had survived were already in very high positions. But he also decided to appoint a few specific Sisters after going through all the documents of the Monastery of Bliss and Repose. In a matter of days, he read absolutely everything and knew now more than Lord Wanghuo himself.

What really interested him of course was the fate of his Blazing Swallow. Thankfully, it had endured. Dan Yao had grown into a great alchemist. Even without Cao Yun's help, he had improved himself tremendously. Right now, he was probably a 5-star Human alchemist, maybe even close to becoming a 1-star Heaven alchemist. Only his cultivation was stopping his progress. Honestly, this made Cao Yun quite happy. The boy was good. On the other hand, he had been a bit worried about Nie Pian. Thankfully, the old man had done nothing wrong. In fact, he had turned his tendencies around and had made the Blazing Swallow even more profitable than ever.

Unfortunately, the Blazing Swallow had been under attack by City Lord Sihe and a few others who had sided with him. Even the nomadic tribes were against them, which limited their supplies. After all, alchemists needed a lot of materials, and many came from the desert. Without Boss Gui's support, they would have disappeared or been bought by City Lord Sihe. Fortunately, Boss Gui had helped them as much as she could.

Of course, Cao Yun didn't believe for a second that she had done so out of the kindness of her heart. But all things considered, she had given them a very great deal. Most likely, Nie Pian had negotiated it tooth and nail. Apparently, the Sisters of the Abyss had kept tabs on his company way past his presumed death. However, they had not interfered at all. In fact, High Mother Qin Xue was probably waiting for the Blazing Swallow to grow even more. Maybe she intended to use their alchemy for herself, so she had no desire to see being destroyed or engulfed by City Lord Sihe.

The nomadic tribes also interested Cao Yun a lot. They had completely fallen under the thumb of Liang Lisheng, the Sun Scorpion Clan's Patriarch. Every other tribe or clan was either directly under his command or had proclaimed their allegiance in some manner. All of that had been done under the pretense of fighting against the evil Boss Gui, called by some the Smiling Flayer. There were even more horrendous stories about how she tortured her enemies, and innocent people. Some claimed that she was bathing in the blood of babies and poisoning water supplies in the desert.

Of course, Boss Gui could be cruel, but those stories were pure fiction. Apparently, the more outlandish they were, the more they were spread and believed. Her clothes were made of demon skin and she ate fresh flesh everyday. Boss Gui was truly seen as a devil incarnate, worse than a demonic beast. Although those stories were mainly spread throughout the Desolate Dune Desert, they still echoed in the Nalupu Kingdom. Slowly, she was losing her influence. Rumors about using poison were clearly the worst. It had been to the point that Lord Wanghuo had summoned her to his court.

Lord Wanghuo never cared about politics at all. In fact, it was absolutely a chore for him. In that regard, Cao Yun could understand him completely. And yet, he had been forced to deal with the situation. Her influence diminished but she stayed a city lord. After all, even now, she was helping the Nalupu Kingdom make a lot of profits, despite City Lord Sihe's interference. Thus, Lord Wanghuo had no desire to get rid of her, and he probably didn't want City Lord Sihe to grow too much and too fast either.

From what Cao Yun read about him, Lord Wanghuo was a martial artist who had become the strongest demon in the entire Desolate Sepulcher. However, he was stuck as an 8th-grade Accomplished Demon, unable to take the last step. Moreover, no one was his equal anymore. So he got bored and slowly settled as the de facto ruler of the entire land. Overtime, he became more and more reclusive and apathetic to the outside world. Apparently, he was spending more time in his harem and his dining hall than in his court. Obviously, he was powerful enough that no one would ever reproach him anything.

In the documents, Cao Yun also got confirmation of what he had suspected. Weiji Nian had been behind the attack in the Sand Wolves Tribe. In the past, she had asked the Sisters to spy on Mo Yun. They had complied but only gave her what information they deemed useless because they had other plans for the young human and his strange bloodline. The more Cao Yun read, the more upset he got. In his mind, Weiji Nian was already dead. That woman might have been useful but she was impossible to reason with. After what she had done, she had to go, or she would do even worse in the future. Not even her family could control her behavior.

The only question in Cao Yun's mind was whether he should kill her entire family along with her. Her husband was working for City Lord Sihe. Her uncle was in the army of the Nalupu Kingdom, supporting City Lord Sihe as well. And her son was clearly terrible. After all, he had already met him and knew of his ways with his female slaves. In the three years Cao Yun had been away, he had not changed. Or maybe, he had changed, for the worst. Cao Yun had no qualms killing them all, but he was just pondering over the best decision for both his future and the future of the Desolate Sepulcher. Since he was going to kill Weiji Nian, he also decided that her direct bloodline should also go. At the very least, he would kill those who were involved in her and City Lord Sihe's affairs. And he knew how to do so in the best manner.

Finally, those documents revealed something that truly piqued his interest. The Desolate Pillar was thought to be the place where the Weaver of Souls had fought Demon God Da Mo. Both had been half-step Immortal Demons. So their fight had shaken the entire foundation of the Piaolu planet itself. However, Emperor Nuwa had not been present. Most likely, she was still training at the time. What was interesting was that the two asura were believed to have appeared out of thin air. There were two places where Demon God Da Mo would frequently appear. One was his own domain from which he almost never left but stayed in seclusion for long periods of time. And the other one was this Desolate Pillar.

The Weaver of Souls also had the same legends attached to him. Apparently, he stayed in seclusion for a few decades at a time before appearing in public again. Each time, he was in that spot or in Demon God Da Mo's private domain. Obviously, Cao Yun was extremely curious about that situation. After seeing Demon God Da Mo's body and some of the Weaver of Souls' memories, there was something that wasn't quite right. As half-step Immortal Demons, they shouldn't have been able to live for so long.

Many people had thought that those asura had a much higher cultivation. After all, a late Immortal or a late Immortal Demon could live for around a hundred millenniums. But their cultivation was much lower in reality. At first, Cao Yun simply thought that the legends were just legends. Maybe there had been multiple Demon Gods all bearing the name Da Mo. But it was wrong as well, according to the Weaver of Souls' own memories. Thus, there had to be something else. And Cao Yun had thought of a possibility. Maybe they had found a way to slow down their aging process, maybe an array formation, maybe a pill. It seemed unlikely, but there had to be something to it. And the Desolate Pillar might help him figure it out. Although Cao Yun wasn't interested in it considering his young age, he knew how precious such a secret could be. Besides, no one but him could enter the Desolate Pillar and come out alive. And this secret might be connected to Emperor Nuwa as well.

While everyone was moving toward the Oasis of Life, almost everything had stopped all over the Desolate Sepulcher. After all, their High Mother had died. The mourning would last for years probably and the land would slowly come back to its usual activities. But for the time being, everything had slowed to a halt.

Thankfully, Cao Yun had nothing to do with the funerals. He had High Mother Lisha take care of everything and didn't concern himself with anything. Instead, he decided to do something much more personal.

From the Monastery of Bliss and Repose's inventory, he took everything that could be useful to him. In particular, he retrieved a compass. After all, his best compass was still with Hongyu and his main spatial ring. And that was the reason for this compass. Cao Yun wanted to find Hongyu as soon as possible. Of course, he wanted to get his possessions back, especially the paintings of his family. But he was also genuinely worried the fenghuang. Fortunately, no document ever said anything about her. This could be good news if she had been able to hide, or bad news because there was nothing to tell about her any longer. Hopefully, she was alive though. After getting her parents killed, Cao Yun wouldn't be able to accept that she had died as well.

Using his stealth, improved by what he learned from the Sisters of the Abyss, Cao Yun left the Monastery of Bliss and Repose without warning anyone. He had just told High Mother Lisha that he was going into seclusion. She had no reason not to believe him. And even if she had, she had no right to question him. Besides, she had to admit that his reorganization had been good. He had chosen the same Sisters she would have chosen, except for one. Yinlü remained the most basic Sister. Although High Mother Lisha valued her a lot, she knew that even mentioning her name would upset Cao Yun and she was worried that he might kill her. Only Xixue's memory was protecting her sister, her sister who had betrayed her to her death.

After leaving the Monastery of Bliss and Repose, Cao Yun flew for a few hours. From some spatial ring, he took out a sword and used it to fly. Using an object made flying easier. But he had to admit that flying around without any assistance was extremely liberating, especially after spending three years trapped underground in some hellish blood pit. For several hours, he simply flew around without a care in the world. This reminded him of his first time flying on Hongyu's back.

Those thoughts brought him back to reality. He had to find her. If she was in any danger, he didn't want to be a second too late. He would have some time to enjoy himself afterward. Thus, he used the compass to track the spatial ring he had given to her before they had parted.

For several days, he flew forward in the direction shown by the compass. Despite his current cultivation, Cao Yun was still cautious. There were 8 or even 9-core demonic beasts in the Desolate Dune Desert. With his stealth, he could stay hidden from them, but he couldn't use too much of his cultivation or he would reveal his presence. However, he was moving as fast as he could without putting himself in any unnecessary danger.

The land below him was very monotonous as he crossed through the desert. He saw a few caravans moving toward the Oasis of Life. Some were officials going to present their respect to former High Mother Qin Xue and High Mother Lisha. But others were simple pilgrims like always. Obviously, there would be more pilgrims for quite some time. The Oasis of Life would become the center of the Desolate Sepulcher for a few decades at least.

After a month was passed, Cao Yun finally felt Hongyu's presence. With his current senses, this didn't mean that she was close, but she was definitely closer. Now, he didn't even need his compass to find her. But that worried him. She was almost showing off. Thus, she could attract the wrong kind of attention.

Cao Yun saw a small oasis in the distance. It was incredibly small compared with the Oasis of Life. But what stupefied him was that he had read no mention of this oasis anywhere. Someone should have stumbled upon it at some time. It hadn't just spurted out of the ground suddenly. Besides Hongyu's aura and bloodline which were so similar to his, the young man also sensed many demonic beasts. There were at least a thousand of them gathered in this small oasis.

Feeling all of that, Cao Yun hastened his pace while trying to maintain his stealth as much as he could.