Director Hua and Spirit Master Xiao grabbed Feng Yingyue, Sun Liao, Mei Hua, and Ren Chao with their spiritual senses and flew upward. They left the destroyed cultivation chamber and reached the surface. Then, they were about to go as far as they could from the falling blood when Sun Liao spoke.
"I need to stay here."
Even though they had grabbed him, he was still using his own spiritual senses to control his compasses. Even now, he was monitoring all the array formations. Now that Emperor Nuwa's soul fragment was gone, her array formations were collapsing one after the other. Thankfully, Sun Liao had set up other array formations for almost a decade. From the Imperial City, he could not only control the local array formations but also those all around the Hongchen Kingdom.
There was an authority and certainty in his voice that compelled the two women. They knew that there was probably nowhere safe at the moment. Although it was dangerous to stay here, Sun Liao had a chance to do something. If they left, they wouldn't even have that.
Jian Zhenli appeared from the hole and flew toward them. At first, they were on their guard, but Jian Zhenli wasn't threatening at all. Instead, he stopped before reaching them and cupped his fists.
"Noble ladies, our Hongchen Kingdom is in a dire situation. Let's set our differences aside. Just tell me what you need, and you'll get it. Master Sun Liao, give your orders."
Ren Chao and Mei Hua were still affected by Cao Huiying's sacrifice. As such, the burly man tried to step forward to beat up Jian Zhenli in his fury, but Xiao Xuefeng restrained him. Using all of his physical strength, Ren Chao tried to break her hold on his body. In an instant, she felt a terrifying force. The strain was too much for her to handle. At that moment, she realized how scary Ren Chao's physique was. Thankfully, Mei Hua calmed her brother's rage. It only amplified his frustration.
After hurling some insults toward Jian Zhenli and even Emperor Weide, Ren Chao sat cross-legged and also crossed his arms over his large chest. His eyes were full of hate and frustration. Clearly, he wanted to crush Jian Zhenli and Emperor Weide into bloody meat. His eyes darted upward, and he looked at his brother, covered in blood. Many chains were all around him, but now they were all emanating from his very flesh. From gushing and gaping wounds, golden and silvery chains covered in his own blood were grabbing the chains from the Dao. Now, Cao Yun's chains were tugging on the chains of the Dao to reel them in. However, the Dao was resisting.
In the sky, Cao Yun could feel his body being split apart by terrifying forces. His very bones were screaming in agony as pieces of his flesh were being torn apart by the taut chains. In order to fully break through, he needed to integrate the broken chains of Dao into his body. With them, he could fully experience the Dao with his own flesh, the way demons understood the Dao.
Among the group on the surface, Feng Yingyue was also looking at Cao Yun, but her eyes were just sad and worried. She had no time for hatred or anger at the moment. She was afraid that Cao Yun would die, or worse, let himself die. After his sister's death, she couldn't know his state of mind, and she could only barely understand his pain. She wanted to be close to him, to comfort him. She needed that, and she was certain that he needed it too. Demon God Da Mo's presence had been expunged, and so had been the poison. As such, being near Cao Yun wasn't dangerous. Besides, he had broken apart the chains. Unless his body gave way and he quite literally exploded, being near him was no more dangerous than staying anywhere in the Hongchen Kingdom with this blood sun above their heads.
A large drop of blood was falling toward Cao Yun. Since the young man wasn't responding to his environment, it was about to simply fall toward the ground with no one to stop it. Suddenly, Emperor Weide moved.
His body was still injured from his fight, his armor partially broken apart, and his Soul Embryo weakened by the backlash of his own domain being breached. However, he moved with all his speed. For a moment, Cao Yun's brothers thought he was attacking, and Ren Chao was about to leap forward. But they realized that he flew higher than Cao Yun. He was trying to intercept the drop of blood from the blood sun.
"I call upon the Seven Treaties!"
From the Everlasting Earth Palace, seven scrolls flew toward Emperor Weide. They immediately opened and fluttered all around the Emperor. As they opened, people could hear the voices of the Four Saints as well as demonic words, spoken in Moshenhua. Those scrolls were the original Seven Treaties, which had been signed between the Hongchen Kingdom and the seven major demon kingdoms during the Seven Treaties Era. Saint Xun Ke had spent most of his life brokering those treaties in order to bring stability and peace to mankind. Within those treaties were the blood seals of both the Four Saints and the seven Demon Lords, those who ruled the Seven Kingdoms.
Only the Emperor had the authority to call upon the Seven Treaties, and only if the Hongchen Kingdom was threatened from the outside by demons. Unfortunately, the seven Demon Lords were long dead. As such, the Seven Treaties didn't mean anything to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. However, they still retained enough power to protect the Hongchen Kingdom even without Emperor Nuwa. Emperor Weide didn't hesitate and poured his own Soul Embryo into the scrolls.
Seven large blood runes appeared around him, each one representing a Demon Lord's house. Then, Emperor Weide controlled them and sent them above. He was just in time for the drop of ominous blood to strike the very first rune. As it did, the blood exploded into tiny droplets that splashed everywhere. The blood rune was pushed back by the impact, and cracks appeared immediately. Although Emperor Weide had not annihilated the attack, he had reduced the blow considerably.
Thousands of tiny droplets fell all over the place. When they touched the ground, they began to melt the rocks and quickly disappeared in fumes and ashes. People could imagine if the large drop had actually fallen in one piece.
Around the Everlasting Earth Palace, the array formations isolating it were collapsing. People from the outside could see what was going on. They could see Emperor Weide in pain still fighting to protect them. But they could also see Cao Yun in his full demonic form. Chains were coming out of his broken, bloodied body. No one truly understood what was happening or who this man was. However, they could tell that he was dying. Most people thought that he was a demon whom Emperor Weide had slain. His corpse was rotting, chained down in the air. That being said, Spirit Warriors could obviously tell that this hypothesis didn't make any sense. They could feel that this demon was much more dangerous than any Accomplished Demon. They realized that someone had actually broken the curse of the Forsaken Dao Era. Unfortunately, that someone was a demon...
Still, some cultivators were able to sense something peculiar around Cao Yun. However, they refused to believe their senses. Indeed, Cao Yun had no reason to hide his dual cultivation. As such, most Spirit Warriors were sensing both his asura cultivation and his Soul Embryo. Since it didn't make any sense to them, they mostly chose to ignore it. Maybe something was messing with their senses. Maybe they were just confused.
All the Spirit Warrior guards of the Everlasting Earth Palace and the Imperial City poured toward Emperor Weide to offer their support while the Mortal Warriors were trying to help the citizens find some modicum of refuge anywhere possible. At the very least, they had to avoid panic, as it would kill even more people. Although everyone was confused and terrified, the military order reigned among the soldiers and guards. Jian Zhenli gave orders to the nearby Spirit Warriors.
Emperor Weide was too busy to give any order, but he trusted Jian Zhenli with his life. Among his orders, one of them confused the guards and soldiers even more. He ordered them not only to leave the demon in chains alone, but also to protect him if need be. Although they were confused, the soldiers didn't ask anything more. They had received their orders and were ready to execute them, no matter what. If they had to sacrifice their lives to save the demon, they would. Everyone was convinced that Emperor Weide knew what he was doing. After all, he was risking his life to protect them at the moment. There had to be a reason, and there was no time to elaborate on it anyway.
Several Spirit Warriors got around Sun Liao as per Jian Zhenli's orders. Then, Sun Liao gave his own orders. He acted as though he were their superior, disregarding any rank. Even Jian Zhenli was reduced to his helper. The young array formation master sent them to various positions to hold the defenses. From his sea of consciousness, he retrieved his spiritual weapon, 'Heavenly Mirror Longbow'.
"To the West, Ruomu lies"!
Behind Sun Liao, a giant tree grew in an instant. This was already one of the most powerful moves of his 'Houyi's Nine Suns'. The tree was huge and majestic. A vibrant vitality spread from the tree itself. As soon as it fully manifested, dozens of branches shot out and hit drops of blood that were falling from the sky. The branches seemed to come directly from the tree, but also seemed as though they had been shot from Sun Liao's bow. It was extremely strange and esoteric. The branches, like arrows, pierced the drops of blood and exploded, turning into ashes and dust. However, Sun Liao was able to fire more and more arrows.
No 1st-grade Spirit Warrior could perform such a feat. However, Sun Liao was literally exploiting the strength of several middle Spirit Warriors. In a matter of seconds, he had set up an entire battle formation using Jian Zhenli and his men. Now, Sun Liao could control their own cultivation to help strengthen himself. Dozens of branches were being shot from the tree every breath or so. However, the tree didn't seem to wither. In fact, it seemed to grow stronger and bigger every single time.
In the sky, Emperor Weide's blood seals were also intercepting large drops that couldn't be shot down. As time passed, the seals were growing weaker and weaker. More and more cracks appeared in them, and everyone could tell that they wouldn't last very long. As such, Sun Liao decided to disregard the Emperor and simply give him orders. Still, Sun Liao was logical. He gave his orders through spiritual senses so that no one would hear them, fearing that Emperor Weide's ego would prevent him from obeying otherwise. Sun Liao hated and despised him, but they needed him right now.
For an instant, Emperor Weide hesitated, wondering if Sun Liao was trying to get him killed. However, he decided that he had nothing to lose. He was too weak to stop the attack of Empyrean Asura. Even if he had been at his full potential, he wouldn't have been able to deal with it alone.
With Emperor Weide and the Seven Treaties added to Sun Liao's battle formation, the tree grew large enough to encompass most of the Everlasting Earth Palace. Branches were being shot upward to explode the drops of blood. But there were more and more drops. Now, the blood sun was almost raining down on the Imperial City. As the droplets fell farther from the Imperial City, they were slowly but surely digging a large trench, a ravine even, surrounding the entire area.
From afar, people could see a giant eye made of pure blood crying a torrent of blood directly toward the Imperial City. Within this torrent, a large tree was pushing against it. From the tree, a powerful screech echoed and filled the land. Then, heat and light began to emanate from the tree, the Fusang tree. The tree grew and grew, towering above the clouds as most Spirit Warriors in the Everlasting Earth Palace and the Imperial City were strengthening Sun Liao's battle formation. The young man was only a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. But he was now holding the strength of several 9th-grade Spirit Warriors. Honestly, he might even have had the strength of a Sage at his fingertips. His knowledge of array formations was incredible. After all, even Dian Mo had been put to shame by it.
"Nine back at Fusang"!
Nine large branches broke out of the tree trunk. They had no leaves and looked like they had been burned to cinders, but were still strong and incredibly sturdy. At their very extremity, strange fruits appeared. They were glowing and incandescent. Slowly, they grew bigger. And bigger. And bigger. Each time, they looked like they were exploding. Shock waves were sent in every direction. People on the ground could feel a warm heat, but anyone outside the tree was feeling scorching hell. Soon, the nature of those fruits was obvious. There were nine suns.
Even the drops of blood from the blood sun turned into ashes and fumes when they got close enough to those small suns.
Sun Liao's 'Houyi's Nine Suns' was pushed to its limit. Unfortunately, even with all the strength at his disposal, this was still extremely taxing on Sun Liao's soul. He gulped down a few pills to simply remain conscious. Director Hua and Spirit Master Xiao were supporting him, while Ren Chao felt more and more helpless and useless. His brothers were fighting for their lives, and he was sitting there doing nothing. He had to cultivate! He had to become a Spirit Warrior, too! No matter how talentless he was, he had to catch up with his brothers and sister. Although Mei Hua couldn't directly help, she was supporting Sun Liao with alchemy.