Cao Yun finally had a name for the man he hated most after Emperor Weide, Jian Zhenli, the Righteous Sword. When his family was slaughtered more than fifteen years ago, he was the leader of the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards while Yan Huoling was his second-in-command. Yan Huoling had dealt with the demonic cultivators whom they had blamed for the attack, but Jian Zhenli had performed the most crucial mission himself. Indeed, Yan Huoling was more accustomed to burning everyone in a few moments rather than taking anyone alive. Besides, Jian Zhenli had wanted to prove his loyalty to Emperor Weide.
After the huge success of the operation, Jian Zhenli had become Emperor Weide's right-hand man and his personal bodyguard. Now that Yong Ke was ready to break through to the stage they needed for the sacrifice, he was also protecting her. However, his blade was ready to taste the blood of the Cao family once more.
Greedily, Cao Yun absorbed every single insignificant memory about Jian Zhenli. He was currently a half-step 8th-grade Spirit Warrior. In other words, he was only a handful of years away from actually stepping into this stage. From the moment he had slaughtered Cao Beiwen, Jian Zhenli had actually progressed a lot in his cultivation. After all, he had received great rewards for his butchery. Jian Zhenli's progress was founded on the blood and the corpses of Cao Yun's family, and even on his mother's family. That man had to die!
Even now, Cao Yun could imagine himself destroying all of Jian Zhenli's cultivation, ripping his tendons from his bones, grinding his bones into mere dust, burning all of his flesh and finally annihilating his very soul. Memories from Axiu Qian began to spill into Cao Yun's mind as his anger was growing and growing. Although the young man was using his mind cultivation to keep his Turbid Demons in check, he allowed himself to feel his rage as it lessened some of his pain. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop thinking about the younger sister he had lost. Even within all of Cleansed Asura's knowledge, there was no way to get her memories back. Maybe a few bits and pieces still remained within her, but she would never remember her life with Cao Yun, their brother, and their parents. All of that had been ripped away from her. Even if Cao Yun was able to remind her of who she was, she would never remember her own family. She would only have their graves and some portraits that Cao Yun had with him.
Jian Zhenli was a five-hundred-year-old man who had always been loyal to Emperor Weide, not to the office of Emperor but to Weide himself. Even when Emperor Weide was still Yong Weichen, before he was Emperor, he was friends with Jian Zhenli. Not even Yan Huoling knew all the details of their friendship, but they were close, albeit not very close. Jian Zhenli was extremely loyal but there remained a distance between the two men. Maybe this distance had appeared and grown after Yong Weichen became Emperor Weide, it was hard to tell. That being said, Jian Zhenli would give his life for him at a moment's notice.
Yan Huoling had always seen him in perfect white and light blue robes, unless he was on a mission. However, he had two swords, a pure white blade that was untouched by blood. The blade was always so hot that it would vaporize any drop of blood before it could touch the sword. On the other hand, he had a sword that was continuously covered in blood. This was the sword Cao Yun had seen him use when he had killed his great-grandfather. Most likely, he had used the same blade on his parents. And, for sure, it was the sword that had sliced Cao Yun and left him for dead.
That man had long black hair that he left untied most of the time. His whole demeanor was full of arrogance and disdain for the world. Unfortunately, he had the ability to match his ego. Like Yan Huoling, he had trained in the Dao of Fire. In fact, he might have been competent enough to receive the Solar-Orchid Flame's seed, but he never wanted it. Unlike Yan Huoling, he was obsessed with the sword. Apart from the Dao of the Sword, he didn't pursue anything else. There was no doubt that he had reached Sword Spirit even though Yan Huoling never actually witnessed it. The most he ever showed was his Sword Heart, which left an undying impression on Yan Huoling's soul.
Dian Mo couldn't tell exactly what Cao Yun was thinking, but he had seen the same memories from Yan Huoling, so he could guess. Since the boy was focusing on personal matters, Dian Mo decided to study memories related to how the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards worked as a unit. Thankfully, Yan Huoling's group was the most powerful among all the groups. After all, she was their leader. But it also meant that she knew absolutely everything about the soldiers. Hence, Dian Mo and, soon, Cao Yun were going to know every single detail about their current enemies.
Ironically, Yan Huoling's seals would seal the fate of her subordinates, not her memories. Indeed, because Emperor Weide and his men were so proud of those seals, they never imagined that anyone could unravel them and get to the memories hidden by them. Honestly, Dian Mo had to admit that the seals had been extremely good, but not good enough against him. In other words, they had not compartmentalized the information at all. Among cultivators of a certain grade, it was an obvious thing to do. Otherwise, if one of your men was captured, every one of your secrets would be discovered. In his hubris, Emperor Weide had not found it necessary to do so with Yan Huoling because she had the best seals on her memories. On the other hand, the rest of the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards only had pieces of the whole truth, just in case.
Dian Mo went through hundreds of battles and thousands of training exercises. He saw all of their strengths and weaknesses. Now, he knew everything about their battle formations. With such information, Cao Yun could easily break through their 'Imperial Flame Banner Sutra'. From there, he could have slaughtered his enemies from Orchid's Ashes with incredible ease, knowing exactly which one was the most important for the balance of the battle formation. Unfortunately, he didn't have the information back then. However, he would have it for his next confrontation.
Despite being opposed to it, Dian Mo was going to help Cao Yun kill all the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards. Dian Mo had feared that Cao Yun was biting off more than he could chew, and he had been right. Even with his great efforts, Cao Yun had nearly died. At that very moment, the young man was still recovering from his right forearm being burned to a crisp. Dian Mo could tell that it would take more than a few days, maybe a whole month in the worst-case scenario. In other words, if he fought the rest of the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards now, he would do so with only one arm.
Unfortunately, Dian Mo was perfectly aware that Cao Yun would keep on fighting and killing them. If he had any doubt, the rage within Cao Yun's heart was proof enough. Although he didn't want the boy to risk his life in this endeavor, Dian Mo was resolved to keep silent about it. Now that he had already warned Cao Yun, he had nothing more to add, so he would help him until the very end. But with everything he had just learned, slaughtering the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards should just be a formality. The boy had already laid the groundwork after all. Indeed, he had separated them with decoys of the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu using the bird's bones and some array formations. Without their leader, it would take them some time to gather and consolidate their forces. The best strategy was to pick them off, group by group before they could fully assess the situation.
At last, Cao Yun came out of his meditation. He didn't look at the rest of Yan Huoling's memories for now.
"So, you found what we need?"
"Yes, boy. I imagine you want to get on with it right away?"
Dian Mo didn't even ask Cao Yun if he wanted to rest or recover, knowing that it was pointless. And Cao Yun didn't bother to answer the question, he simply stood up.
"Where do we start?"
The young man knew Dian Mo well enough to surmise that what he had already found was the way to eradicate the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards, and he was absolutely right.
"They've split into fifteen groups, excluding the one that had already been disposed of. From what I've seen, the best target is not the weakest group, it's the one with the fastest flyer. Of course, he's not as fast as you are, but he's also an expert in illusions and mental attacks. He might actually be able to disappear, even from your senses. We don't want him to warn anyone, not the other groups, and certainly not the Emperor. Thankfully, he's not very strong. But that means that they put him with the strongest group after Yan Huoling's. The idea was to allow him to escape and give a report to Yan Huoling or someone else if something happened. He won't be doing that."
"No, he won't."
Cao Yun gulped down two pills this time. Even after guiding the medicinal essence throughout his body, he still felt a bit weak. Of course, as a 9th-grade Accomplished Demon, he was exceptionally strong, but he did feel weaker than usual. Besides, he was still in pain and his mind was in turmoil from what he had learned.
Once he felt he had recovered enough, Cao Yun left the box with the Solar-Orchid Flame's seal concealed in the array formation he had set up. With his compass, he tried to find out where all the other cultivators were. Although he couldn't get an exact location on all of them, he was able to guess where each group was. Besides, Dian Mo could now help him since he knew so much about those cultivators. It didn't take them long to find out their target. But they didn't stop there, they also planned their trajectory perfectly. Cao Yun was about to slaughter the entire 5th Imperial Brocade Guards in a matter of hours. Before the day was over, all of them would be dust.
Pushing his 'Ashen Feather Seal' to its limit, Cao Yun left his hiding spot and quite literally disappeared.
When Cao Yun reappeared, he was hovering over a powerful group of cultivators. Thanks to Dian Mo, he knew all of their abilities and martial arts. He even knew about their battle formations. Immediately, he recognized his target, a young woman who wasn't even a hundred years old. For an instant, he thought about what Dian Mo had said. All those cultivators might be used to protect the Hongchen Kingdom. Unfortunately, Cao Yun didn't see any scenario in which he could kill Emperor Weide, save his sister, and retain the services of the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards. To be fair, he could have thought more about this, so he paused for a moment.
Maybe his rage had overwhelmed his sanity and rationality. Was it really necessary to kill them all? They had massacred innocent people under the orders of Emperor Weide. They would warn the Imperial City as soon as they discovered Yan Huoling's death. If Cao Yun killed them, confusion would last longer. Indeed, the Imperial City would not find out until they sent another group to this desolate region. Considering how dangerous it was, it would take several months, maybe enough for Cao Yun to get to the Imperial City beforehand. Moreover, they were an obstacle between him and his sister. Now that Cao Yun had made up his mind, he decided to go through with their assassination. Maybe it was the wrong answer; he couldn't be absolutely sure of it, but it was his answer at this moment. Hopefully, he wouldn't come to regret it in the war against the Empyrean Asura Theocracy.
Cao Yun waited several hours, observing them all. With Dian Mo's knowledge, he went through their array formations as if they didn't exist. They weren't very good as they had been set up in an emergency, but they were still 2-star Heaven array formations meant to detect any intruder. None detected Cao Yun's presence. Thus, he positioned himself like a predator and stood there, waiting for the right opportunity.
Finally, it came. A sword flew straight toward the target's neck. Before she could react, her head had been pierced through and through, her entire Upper Dantian had exploded, obliterating her Soul Embryo, just to be safe. Obviously, the other cultivators got ready. In an instant, they had formed a battle formation that Dian Mo recognized. It was exactly the one he had predicted so he didn't even have to say anything to Cao Yun.
Without revealing himself, Cao Yun altered the course of the sword that went straight into a weakness of the battle formation as it was forming. A sudden backlash of Qi went through the strongest cultivator. Only then did Cao Yun show himself. His spear stabbed toward the cultivator, who was in pain. With no time to react, he tried to grab the spear as it sank into his flesh. He could feel the Black Heart Flame spread through it as though it were a poison on Cao Yun's spear. Using all of his strength, he wanted to grab the spear so that his comrades could attack Cao Yun when he was immobilized.
Not one of the cultivators acted surprised. Of course, they were surprised, but they were incredibly disciplined. Unfortunately, it didn't help them at all. Cao Yun let go of the spear and attacked the worst possible target each time. No matter what kind of battle formation they were trying to use, Cao Yun saw right through it and knew which cultivators to attack first to make it collapse. Backlash after backlash, the cultivators were so weakened that it was easy for Cao Yun to kill them all. Unlike his first target, he did try to preserve their Soul Embryos to extract even more memories. Indeed, he wasn't afraid that they could possibly escape him.