Empyrean Asura had been controlling the Staircase to Hell array formation for almost a day. By this time, millions of people had been sacrificed throughout the demon territories. Thanks to many inquisitors and priests, hundreds of thousands of heretics or rebels had been either found out or fabricated out of thin air. Indeed, many demons had been deemed heretical without much proof. In fact, the more they claimed their innocence, the more they were persecuted, as they were insulting the word of Demon God Da Mo, since he couldn't make any mistakes, even through his mortal agents.
Many of the sacrifices had been the slaves from the Desolate Sepulcher. One or two demons out of a hundred had been killed in the span of a single day. Obviously, it sparked considerable tension. Unfortunately, fear was much stronger. After all, the most powerful demons were mostly siding with the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. After several decades under the yoke of the tyrant, only a handful of powerful demons could be called neutral. And all of them were under the Silver Wolf Marshal. So long as he was following the Empyrean Asura, those powerful demons wouldn't defect.
Among the rebels, some wanted to act immediately, pushed by hatred and wrath.
In the Yanbei Region, Lan Duoyan was part of a rather large rebellion. Sadly, the strongest demon among them was a 5th-grade Golden Blood Child, Xueyan Jin. He was around two or three hundred years old. By his side was his wife, a 3rd-grade Golden Blood Child, who was around the same age as her husband. Considering their age, they were almost in the middle of their lives. However, their entire family had been slaughtered, their children and grandchildren alike. Before the Yanbei Region even existed, they were small noblemen who made money through commerce and trade. Some of that commerce had been with neighboring kingdoms, but also with a few contacts on the Desolate Sepulcher.
Thanks to these contacts, they had been able to survive the invasion of their kingdom. But a large part of their family was killed in the battles. Afterward, they were oppressed because they refused to revoke their faith. Unlike Lan Duoyan, they didn't believe in the Sutra Faith exactly. In fact, it was a mix with the faith of the Weaver of Souls from the Desolate Sepulcher. Obviously, this was absolutely heretical. Despite their efforts to hide it, they were found out.
After fleeing their house, they were hunted down. Over the years, only the couple survived. Throughout those tragedies, they had grown closer and closer. Although they could still produce offspring thanks to their advanced cultivation and vitality, they had sworn never to. After all, they couldn't replace the family they had lost, even if they were to win the fight. Moreover, they didn't expect to win the fight at all.
All those young people around them were hurting them. They knew that those young demons had nowhere to go, but they were also painfully aware that they would never see the day when the Empyrean Asura Theocracy would fall. Although they called themselves a rebellion, the couple was simply trying to keep demons who had been deemed heretics alive. However, the younger generation was more brazen. Lan Duoyan was gaining more and more support as his cultivation was growing fast, and he was outspoken about wanting to eradicate the Empyrean Asura Theocracy and slaughter all the priests.
Xueyan Jin was a towering demon. Despite his vitality and cultivation, one could see that he was getting quite old. He appeared to be around sixty for a mere mortal. His skin was dark and his head bald. However, he had a luscious black beard with a few silvery glints in it. On the other hand, Xueyan Gu was quite frail, very slender. She had long red and gray hair that almost reached the ground when she walked. Most of the time, she didn't wear anything in her hair, not since she had lost all those she loved. In her eyes, the demons could see how deeply she cared about them all. But some, like Lan Duoyan, could see a fire that had disappeared from Xueyan Jin's eyes a few years ago. The poor man's will had been broken, but hers was still dying. Hopefully, Lan Duoyan could revive it.
Lan Duoyan could see that the couple was deeply in love. If he could convince one of them of his goals, they would both follow him. Deep down, Lan Duoyan was convinced that his teacher would somehow overturn the entire Empyrean Asura Theocracy. For his return, Lan Duoyan needed to be ready. Without revealing his teacher's secrets, Lan Duoyan had been training a few younger demons. They didn't improve as fast as he did, but they did improve a bit faster than usual. Besides, they launched more and more raids to gather more and more resources. The strain of the war against the Hongchen Kingdom had weakened the Empyrean Asura Theocracy in the region.
To be fair, the destruction of the Temple of Grace and Submission by Cao Yun had also greatly weakened the Yanbei Region.
Of course, all the demons could feel the blood in the air. Up in the sky, they were terrified by the blood sun and the dark skies. Suddenly, many reports arrived from scouts. They revealed to all how many demons had been slaughtered. A lot of rebels who were in jail waiting to be executed had been sacrificed at the same time. In fact, villages had been raided, and innocent demons had been chosen to get to the right number. Contrary to other regions, the Yanbei Region had not suffered as much. Thus, the rebels could imagine how much the demons throughout the conquered kingdoms had suffered.
What they didn't know was that the souls of captured demons had also been used. If they had known the full extent of the atrocities committed by Empyrean Asura, they might never have been able to sleep again in their life.
Lan Duoyan looked at the sky with hatred in his eyes. Unlike many others, he had no fear. He simply hated Empyrean Asura and wanted to taste his blood and flesh. At that moment, Lan Duoyan was a rabid animal. Maybe it was the emotions, or maybe it was the blood in the air. Indeed, a thick killing intent was spreading all over the place. As soon as the sacrifices had begun, this killing intent had slowly risen. It was turning all the demons and all living things in general more violent. As a result, the massacres became even more widespread. This was a vicious circle, exactly as Empyrean Asura intended.
Slowly, Lan Duoyan felt something that Empyrean Asura felt as well. There was something new within the smell of blood. Because he had already met Cao Yun, Lan Duoyan knew what this smell was. Immediately, he knew that a counter-offensive would happen. Maybe the rebels could take advantage of it. Lan Duoyan wasn't a strategic genius, but he was trusted by the Xueyan couple. As such, he knew that most of the military forces of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy were at the border with the humans. After all, they were hoping to crush the humans after this powerful and vicious attack. This wasn't an opportunity they could bring about every now and then. If they missed it, they might never have a chance of crushing the Hongchen Kingdom for good.
That being said, this might also be a great opportunity for the rebels. However, if they took it and failed, all rebellion would be crushed. On the other hand, if they didn't take it, the rebellion would simply die and fade away slowly. While the Xueyan couple was okay with that, the younger generation would rather fight and die than survive by hiding and running. Somehow, Lan Duoyan had to convince the Xueyan couple to take back the Yanbei Region. This was their one chance. Soon, his master would fight back and weaken the Empyrean Asura. Convinced of that, Lan Duoyan had no other choice but to convince, or even trick, the couple who had helped him, and the rebels who were trusting him. In the end, it was for the greater good. Maybe the killing intent was influencing him, or maybe he liked the idea that it wasn't completely his idea...
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Sun Liao felt Cao Yun's Dao of Death throughout his body. Even with his powerful will, the sensations were absolutely horrifying. He felt cold and dead throughout his flesh and even soul. He could hear the lamentations of the dead. Since all the Death Energy sent through the Staircase to Hell came from sacrificed demons, killed in brutal manners, their emotions were absolutely dreadful. The array formation master had never had this kind of experience, unlike Cao Yun. He was reliving some of those deaths. His hands began to shake, but he felt the warmth of Ren Chao holding on to him, he also felt Mei Hua's presence. Those two were the only reasons why Sun Liao didn't break down. Even Cao Yun's presence wasn't comforting at all.
To be fair, Cao Yun had turned almost his entire Po into Death Energy. But even if he hadn't, he was in no emotional state to comfort anyone. Simply controlling his sorrow and rage long enough to save everyone was already impressive and a testament to his soul and mind cultivation.
Unfortunately, Cao Yun's mastery over 'Soul Chains' wasn't perfect yet. Otherwise, the process would have been much less torturous for his brother. A large part of his chains were still in flux, not fully physical yet but not pure Death Energy either. In a sense, the Death Energy was coming in and out of existence. Obviously, it was this Death Energy that was harming Sun Liao's mind and will.
Anyway, Sun Liao pushed through it. Because he had complete trust in his brother, he didn't worry or even fear for his safety. Otherwise, his mind would have been even more distracted, and he needed his entire concentration. Indeed, his 'Nine back at Fusang' was growing stronger and stronger. Although it was a good thing overall, it also meant that it was harder to control. Thankfully, it was growing as strong as Staircase to Hell was growing weak. After all, Cao Yun was literally siphoning the Death Energy out of this disgusting array formation.
In Saint Citadel Sidi, Empyrean Asura finally began to understand his feelings. Someone was altering his array formation. But no one on the Piaolu planet could perform such a feat. Immediately, he was convinced that Emperor Nuwa was behind it all. She might have left a fragment of her soul just to protect her descendants. But it shouldn't have been so powerful. Obviously, he had planned for it. Considering how long ago she had left, any soul fragment should be too weak to oppose his Staircase to Hell. However, she was able to oppose it alright. Try as he might, he didn't understand how she was able to do so.
Empyrean Asura was extracting more and more Death Energy from captive souls, using the methods invented by Yu Xiangling. Around Empyrean Asura, a few Supplicant Tyrants were used to feed more Death Energy into the array formation. Ironically, he was giving Cao Yun more energy to fight back against his own attack. But he hadn't realized it yet.
The Fusang tree grew taller and larger. Shining branches grew higher than any other branches. Looking closely, one could see that those weren't branches but chains. As they were above the nine small suns, the heat didn't vaporize the blood. As such, the shining chains were covered in fresh blood from the blood sun. With each drop of blood, the chains grew larger and stronger. Slowly, the torrent of blood was diminishing. High in the sky, the stars were starting to turn back to their natural state, bringing a bit of light to the dark sky.
The stench of blood was still thick all around the Imperial City, but only drops were now falling to the ground. Clearly, the violence of the attack was subsiding. That being said, that didn't mean that the attack had grown weak at all. Most of the array formations of the Hongchen Kingdom set up by the Four Saints and Emperor Nuwa had collapsed. Emperor Weide had completely used up the Seven Treaties. Indeed, the scrolls had turned into dust, and even the seals had been consumed in full.
Although the Empyrean Asura Theocracy had sacrificed a large part of its population, the Hongchen Kingdom was weaker than ever. Besides, the political situation was still very uncertain. Emperor Weide could see that Cao Yun was their only hope to fight the demons. But he could also tell that working with him would be difficult, to say the least. Most likely, it would simply be impossible. Unfortunately, no one else would be able to rival his cultivation. Deep down, Emperor Weide regretted that Cao Yun's Soul Embryo had been injured. Otherwise, he might have become both an Exalted Demon and a Sage at the same time. Although his life might be forfeit to this powerhouse, Emperor Weide was glad that the Hongchen Kingdom had such a protector.
Considering that many people of the Hongchen Kingdom were behind Cao Yun, Emperor Weide knew that the young man wouldn't let the kingdom be destroyed. In the end, Emperor Weide didn't regret his actions. Ironically, Cao Yun's vengeance had proved Emperor Weide right. He was the one who had caused such a powerful cultivator to emerge and protect mankind.
Emperor Weide stopped his train of thought. For now, he had to help Sun Liao and the other Spirit Warriors. Yes, Staircase to Hell was growing weaker and weaker, but it was far from over. Unfortunately, they were all running on fumes. After all, Cao Yun himself had just broken through after a terrifying fight, heavy injuries, and deep emotional scars. It was a miracle he could even help Sun Liao at the moment. Knowing that he couldn't help and that he could only make matters worse if he disrupted Cao Yun's calm, Emperor Weide became as meek as possible. Only Sun Liao and Cao Yun could handle the current crisis. Besides, this might be good for later, as he still had to think about the future.