The Six Fangs Generals were brought directly toward the former laboratory of Yu Xiangling. This was where the Burning Blood was. Instead of the rotting corpses in which innocent souls were being tortured, the room was now filled with priests writhing in agony on the ground. Among them, in the center, the closest to the pool of blood, was High Priest Zhihui. His eyes were full of blood. All over his body, pain and spasms coursed through his muscles. His jaw was closed shut by his muscles contracting so much they were literally breaking his bones.
The Six Fangs were horrified by that scene. Honestly, they didn't care about the priests, but they were worried for their Marshal, even more than for themselves. Immediately, they got into formation around Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan. As they didn't know what had happened to those priests, it might also happen to them. No matter what, they had to protect their Marshal. Lu Xiaoya extended her spiritual senses closer and closer to the agonizing priests.
It didn't take her very long to find out the origin of the problem. The blood of the priests was being replaced with poison at that very moment. Most likely, High Priest Zhihui's blood was already completely replaced by this deadly poison. After replacing all their blood, the poison was then spreading throughout their bodies, blocking their acupoints. If they had been Accomplished Demons, their souls would have been stuck inside their bodies. But since they were mere Golden Blood Children, they couldn't even spread their souls outside.
Because of their weaker cultivation, the pain was much more intense. The poison was also turning the Qi within their blood and flesh into Evil Qi as their souls were dying. Since their souls were trapped inside their bodies, even dying wouldn't save them. Indeed, many of them were already dead in fact. And yet, their souls were trapped. But their Po had turned into Death Energy, trying to separate their Hun from their mortal flesh. As it had failed, their souls were also being tortured, indirectly because of the poison. Soon, they would be completely annihilated as the Evil Qi and the poison would corrode everything.
Even Lu Xiaoya wasn't sure what this poison was. As it turned out, this was a weaker form of the Black Death Prison. This poison had been used by former Chief Elder Luoming to kill Chief Elder Suxian. But even then, it had been a watered down version. Indeed, the real Black Death Prison was a 3-star Spirit poison. Cao Yun had been able to synthesize some of it. Although it had not reached the Spirit grade, it was higher than what former Chief Elder Luoming had been able to make. Not even a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon could resist long against such a poison. The problem would be to poison such a powerful cultivator though.
Lu Xiaoya quickly understood the situation. Her eyes immediately went toward the pool of blood. In it, she did find some strange fluctuations. But even knowing what she was looking for, she failed to fully notice the Black Death Prison. However, she could tell that the pool of blood had been altered and she did find a few seals here and there. Clearly, Cao Yun had poisoned the pool of blood. It had taken a few days for his seals to weaken and the Black Death Prison to fully emerge. In the meantime, High Priest Zhihui had given this Burning Blood to almost every priest in the Temple of Grace and Submission.
"This is poison!"
Lu Xiaoya explained everything she had found out to her comrades and her Marshal. The young servant who had brought them here was terrified. As a matter of fact, she didn't really care about the priests, but she was worried about what would happen to her. Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan turned his attention to her. Of course, she was shaking in fear, uncertain of her fate.
"Do not worry, girl. Just tell us, how are the other priests? Who took of that blood?"
"... All of them..."
Understanding the severity of the situation, the Marshal quickly gave orders to his generals.
"Quickly, gather all the other priests and try to get the poison out of their bodies. Lu Xiaoya, try to examine those priests. You might be able to find some way of helping them."
Reluctantly, she went to examine the priests. After looking through the pool of blood, she was been able to tell how they were maintaining it. Although Mo Qingsong and Zhai Tiesheng had not told her what visions they had seen, she could make an educated guess. Those priests were absolute monsters. And she knew exactly what she was talking about. The entire Empyrean Asura Theocracy had to be purged. But she also understood why her Marshal had submitted to them. If only his life had been in danger, he would have fought to the end; she was certain of that. Unfortunately, he had to think about the greater good of his Langyin Region he had sworn to protect. With conflicting thoughts in mind, the woman did try to examine the Black Death Prison.
After some time, she came to the conclusion that there was simply nothing to do. High Priest Zhihui was already dead. In fact, even his soul had been consumed. At the moment, his body had truly become a prison in which what little remained of him had turned into Death Energy and Ghost Energy. Ironically, he had more or less turned into the victims of Yu Xiangling.
The only thing left to do for those priests was to kill them. Such an act of mercy was beyond Lu Xiaoya. Deep down in her heart, she didn't want to bring them peace. Quite the opposite, she was glad to see them suffer and die in agony like their victims. She remembered how people in her own region had been persecuted. Images of innocent people being burned alive for heresy emerged in her mind as well. Obviously, she also knew what happened to servants and slaves as well. Under the guise of faith to their Heavenly Demon God, the priesthood could unleash untold atrocities on their poor victims. Maybe not all of them were guilty, but she didn't care that much...
In the center of the room, Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan was observing the pool of blood. Several thoughts were plaguing his conscience. Unfortunately, he had made a vow. He had to protect the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, no matter what. So long as Empyrean Asura kept his end of the bargain, the Silver Wolf Marshal had to uphold it too. Otherwise, the Langyin Region would be thrown into the chaos and desolation of war. Deep down, Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan knew he couldn't win that fight. And after his region lost, his people would be subjected to all the atrocities he had seen throughout the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. His main duty was to his people so he had made this vow. And now his honor dictated that he upheld it until the very end.
With no regard for the sanctity of this Burning Blood, the Silver Wolf Marshal took everything into his spatial ring, leaving nothing behind. In fact, he was also going to seal the entire room and burn everything to ashes, just to make sure that no trace of the poison remained. Then, he turned toward Lu Xiaoya.
"Can you do anything?"
The woman hesitated for a moment...
"There's nothing to do, no."
Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan saw that she was hiding some thing. Obviously, he could tell that she resented those priests. He also hesitated for a while, but ended up not pressing her for answers. After all, he came with the same answer she had. The best course of action for those priests was a quick death. But they were busy with dealing with the other priests who might be saved. All those who were in this room had probably received large amounts of Burning Blood. Maybe there was a chance for the other priests.
Quickly, Lu Xiaoya and Marshal Shanyin Guan went to a large room where all the priests were gathered. There was confusion and concern in their faces. Obviously, no one had told them what was going on so as to not cause any panic. Using spiritual senses, the Six Fangs Generals and their Marshal talked through telepathy.
"Sister Lu, can you tell whether they've been poisoned as well, or not?"
"I should be able to do so, yes. Even if I can't detect the poison directly, I could tell if they received some of this blood recently. After all, they probably didn't absorb all of it yet."
Then, she spread her spiritual senses all around the room. Around two hundred priests were there, some very young as well. They were all that remained of the priesthood of the Temple of Grace and Submission. It didn't take her too long to go through most of them.
"They're all poisoned, no doubt about that."
"Can you do anything for them? If the poison didn't attack them yet, could we take it out of them before it becomes aggressive?"
The true answer was yes. If they acted fast enough, they might purge their blood. For demons, this was hard to accept, but it was preferable to death. After all, as long as they kept their essence blood and their Golden Fate, they could replenish most of their blood in a short amount of time. Yes, it would slow down their cultivation and probably hinder their future progress, but death would hinder them more. That being said, Lu Xiaoya stayed silent and seemed to ponder over the matter.
As anger was coursing through her Marshal's eyes, she had to give her answer.
"I don't see what we could do. Even if we purge their blood, there's still enough poison in their system to kill them. Purging their blood might in fact speed up the process as that strange poison would lash out. In fact, it could endanger whoever is doing the purging..."
Honestly, she lied very poorly and everyone could tell that she was lying. But not a single general admitted to it. They all stayed silent, waiting for their Marshal to respond. For quite some time, there was high tension among the generals and the Marshal. In fact, he even thought about something that would never have crossed his mind before. But he pushed those dark thoughts away and anger dissipated from his eyes. His thunderous voice echoed through the entire room.
"Priests, the blood you were given by High Priest Zhihui has been desecrated by the intruder who slaughtered your Holy Cardinal. In your veins courses the blood of the heretics, an insult to the Heavenly Demon God. We might be able to save some of your lives, but you'll never be pure enough for the Heavenly Demon God. The alternative is this."
Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan sent images of the agony of High Priest Zhihui into the minds of all those priests. Although he wasn't too good with spiritual attacks and manipulations, he was good enough to send images and sensations from his own memories. Seeing that, they all went crazy. The Marshal's words resonated with them. For those priests, purity of blood was essential. The mere idea that their blood had been tainted couldn't be accepted by anyone. Silence fell on the entire crowd, as the reality of their situation was slowly dawning on them.
Suddenly, the silence was broken by a zealous priest.
"Heresy! No insult to the Heavenly Demon God can go unpunished! Destroy and burn the blood of the heretics!"
With his bare hands, he ripped out his own throat and bled to death in front of everyone. This sudden shock jolted everyone and blind zealotry spread like wildfire, as the Marshal had intended.
Then, more and more priests began to cut themselves to get rid of the blood in their very veins. If his generals didn't want to act, the Silver Wolf Marshal would let the priests do the job themselves. But he knew that they would all fail. In the end, all the priests would simply speed up their demise or even cause it right away. He couldn't intervene in the matters of the Heavenly Demon God Faith, he had simply vowed to protect them from outside threats. Thus, if they inflicted the damage on themselves, he had no problem staying out of it. Still, he did feel like he was bending his own morals and he didn't like that at all. Keeping his word was extremely important for the Silver Wolf Marshal.
Even his Six Fangs Generals could see resentment in his eyes. There was a cold fury against Lu Xiaoya. Because of her, he had been forced to compromise.
"Never again."
His words were almost impossible to hear with the screams of the frenzied priests. But Lu Xiaoya heard them as if the room was completely silent. In fact, the other Six Fangs Generals also caught them.
They all left the room as the priests were tearing themselves up. In a matter of hours, all the priests in the Temple of Grace and Submission were killed.
"Sister Lu, stay outside of the temple. As long as you haven't unraveled those array formations, take no rest and keep working. Brother Xun, you analyze this poison. If our enemy can use it, we must be prepared for it."
Xun Lieren wasn't as perceptive as Lu Xiaoya but he was a hunter and was the most knowledgeable when it came to poison, after her. Obviously, they could all tell that Silver Wolf Marshal was more or less punishing Lu Xiaoya, but it was also true that she was the only one who could unravel those array formations in a reasonable amount of time. That being said, Zhai Tiesheng was seething in silence.
-
In his cave, Cao Yun was slowly opening his eyes. Although he couldn't feel any strength through his body, his consciousness had fully come back. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Hongyu. And the moment she saw him, the Heaven-Searing Fenghuang was ecstatic. Still, she controlled herself as her first impulse was to jump toward him. She could tell he still needed to rest for now. However, now that he had awakened, she was more confident. Thus, she left the cave and decided to check on the surroundings. She might be able to gather some demonic beasts to stand guard all over the place. Her brother needed rest and protection.