After four days, the flesh of Cao Yun's arm was fully restored. Considering how long it had taken, it proved how dangerous the Solar-Orchid Flame was. Besides, he had actively used his Golden Blood, Wei Qi and spiritual senses to protect his arm during the fight. Otherwise, he clearly would have lost the entire arm and maybe his heart. Honestly, Cao Yun wasn't absolutely sure whether he could grow back a limb, or how long it would take. Indeed, he had been able to grow back parts of his organs and muscles, but he was still made of flesh and blood, so there had to be a limit to his regenerative abilities.
An Immortal or an Immortal Demon could regenerate their body at some point, but it was because their bodies were not purely flesh and bone. In fact, late Immortal Demons could restore their entire bodies so long as a drop of blood remained since their souls were linked to their blood. Of course, there were always ways to kill even an Immortal, but it was increasingly difficult. Although battles between lower cultivators often ended in death, it was much rarer for higher cultivators. Beating an opponent and being able to actually kill them were two completely different things.
Thankfully, Cao Yun had not been faced with this issue against Yan Huoling or her men. To be fair, even if he had not actively extinguished their Soul Embryos, they would not have fared very well in this environment, unlike his own. In a sea of Death Energy and Ghost Energy, Cao Yun had the upper hand. However, even with this upper hand, he had come really close to his physical death. Thus, it made him think harder about his future plans. He had to find Sun Liao. With his help, Cao Yun was certain of his success. That being said, he had been certain of his success before attacking Yan Huoling.
As much as Cao Yun liked to plan ahead, he had to remind himself that all of his plans could fail. And, at some point, he had to stop planning. It was impossible to anticipate everything. Information was key, yes. However, he had to be careful and always keep in mind that the information might be false or incomplete. Besides, he wouldn't make the same mistake that the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards had made. There was always a possibility for information to be leaked or compromised.
During those four days, Cao Yun crafted all the seals he had obtained from Yan Huoling's memory. Finally, he tried to take in the seed of the Solar-Orchid Flame. Only a Sage could put a physical object directly into their sea of consciousness. That being said, Cao Yun had already received the seed of the world tree that had done so on its own. Right now, Cao Yun was simply trying to put the seed in his body. Of course, he was also trying to imprint it into his sea of consciousness, but he couldn't directly store the flames there.
Although it had taken the shape of an actual seed, it wasn't a plant, it was literal fire. With his spiritual senses, Cao Yun could see hundreds of seals within the small seed. After four days of intensive work, he had replaced all the seals used by Yan Huoling. Now, he was pulling the fire out of the seed and incorporating it into his own flesh, spark by spark.
According to what Yan Huoling knew, this flame was best suited to go into the heart. However, Cao Yun had other ideas. Humans barely cultivated their blood, compared with asuras. Honestly, compared with devas, humans cultivated their blood much more, at least according to what Cao Yun knew of them. Anyway, considering that he was also cultivating the asura path, Cao Yun knew better ways to use this flame. Now that he had felt the chains of the Dao hindering his breakthrough into the Exalted Demon realm, Cao Yun was convinced that he would ultimately take the final step and walk into this fourth realm.
The fourth realm of asura cultivation was also called the True Fire Realm or 'Refining the True Fire'. Within humans and demons, there were three Bodily Fires. Although they were not actual fires, they were clearly essential for bodily functions. By working on them and improving them, one could temper their blood, their bones, their marrow, their organs, everything. This was the reason why almost all Exalted Demons had a small understanding of the Dao of Fire. For most of them, this was the very first Dao they studied. Of course, some didn't go very far, just enough to help them in their cultivation. But, as an alchemist, Cao Yun also had great incentives to study this Dao of Fire. Moreover, he was certain he could go very far, which would tremendously help his future cultivation.
Among the three Bodily Fires, the very first one was the Common People's Fire, also known as Bladder Fire. Given its name, it was obviously the easiest to work on. This fire emanated from the bladder and spread throughout the lower back. For humans, the Bladder Fire was absolutely essential as it was the basis of the absorption of post-natal Jing. In other words, it was the fire used to digest the post-natal Jing absorbed from the outside and fully integrate it within the body. Without this fire, one could barely use this Jing and would be forced to always consume their own pre-natal Jing, and thus, literally consuming their own lifespan just to stay alive every day.
The name wasn't a misnomer, this fire was indeed residing in the bladder. Or, more accurately, it emanated from the bladder. After this fire came the Body's Ministerial Fire, or Kidney Fire. This fire was the one responsible for converting Jing into Qi. It was the fire one could feel in their Lower Dantian, the fire fueling the cauldron. Finally, there was the Imperial Fire, also known as the Heart Fire. This third and last Bodily Fire was produced by the heart to produce blood. Even though blood wasn't directly produced by the heart, but by the marrow, the fire helping this creation came from the heart. In fact, it was the reason why the heart was often referred to as the origin of blood.
Since Cao Yun was already thinking about the next steps of his cultivation, he had a choice to make. He could either put the Solar-Orchid Flame into one of those organs, or split it in three to nourish them all. The choice was extremely fast though. Indeed, he couldn't control the Solar-Orchid Flame at all, just channel its own destructive power. So, it wouldn't be very good to nourish any organ. As such, splitting it apart would make the results even poorer. With no shred of hesitation, Cao Yun absorbed the flame into his bladder.
First of all, the sparks all had to go through his heart; this was the best point of entry. Besides, he had the Drop of Wrath there as well as the Rune of Fire. The Drop of Wrath would subdue the Solar-Orchid Flame even further. On the other hand, Cao Yun wanted to see how the Rune of Fire would react. With the Solar-Orchid Flame as an enemy, it had been cowering in fear. So Cao Yun was curious to see how it would react to it as an ally.
When the very first spark went through Cao Yun's heart, the mere presence of the Drop of Wrath made it even more obedient than it already was under the effect of the seals. Within the Drop of Wrath, the Rune of Fire quivered a little but it didn't try to escape or hide. In fact, a tiny portion of the Rune of Fire even tried to touch the spark. Cao Yun let it happen. Only a minute part of the spark went into the Rune of Fire which began to change. Its shape was slightly modified. It wasn't anything major, but Cao Yun was clearly able to notice the difference. Although he couldn't sense or study the Dao, it wasn't true for the Rune of Fire. In itself, the rune was an emanation of the Dao of Fire. And it seemed to be carefully, and cautiously, trying to learn more by touching the Solar-Orchid Flame. Of course, Cao Yun was quite happy about it.
Once the spark was fully under control, Cao Yun encased it in both Qi and Golden Blood. Slowly, he guided it toward his bladder. With the first spark, he didn't notice a great change. But bit by bit, he felt a great heat permeating his entire lower back. Within his Lower Dantian, he also felt his Golden Fate basking in this heat. The Golden Fate was a physical manifestation of his own pre-natal Jing. Making it react to anything was difficult, and yet it had reacted without Cao Yun even trying.
Fire was also essential in the very last stage of the Sage realm. With all that in mind, Cao Yun was convinced that this Solar-Orchid Flame would be extremely helpful in his future cultivation. After almost an entire day, the entirety of the seed was now inside his own bladder. In his lower back, there was now a permanent warm sensation.
Contrary to the Black Heart Flame that was an emanation of death, the Solar-Orchid Flame seemed to be life itself. In other words, Cao Yun couldn't really use the Black Heart Flame to help his Bodily Fires, but it was a tremendous weapon to kill others. By contrast, the Solar-Orchid Flame wasn't very good for killing others, simply because Cao Yun had no subtle control over it, he could only unleash it or rein it in, but it was incredible for helping his body.
Of course, Dian Mo was observing. Although this flame was only a Dao Seed, it was already quite powerful. Despite not being able to fully control it, Cao Yun had found a great use for this flame. If he could increase his control over it, it would have incredible benefits for his cultivation and his strength. In fact, it might even slightly increase both his life expectancy and his regenerative abilities.
Finally, Cao Yun stood up. He was ready to leave. Once again, he put many seals within his entire being so as to hide his 9th-grade Accomplished Demon cultivation, but also the presence of the Solar-Orchid Flame in his bladder. Since it was a direct descendant of Emperor Nuwa's Solar-Orchid Flame, Cao Yun would have no way of explaining its presence apart from admitting to the murder of Yan Huoling. And then, he would have to explain how he had been able to pull it off. Or, he might simply get killed right away for this murder, of course.
Now, as a mere 5th-grade Spirit Warrior, Cao Yun flew away from this place.
-
Once he was away from the worst part of the desolate provinces, Cao Yun took out a large sword and stood on it. Using a tool to travel was usually more relaxing. Considering his current cultivation, Cao Yun knew he could get to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute in around two months, maybe less. From there, he could reach the Imperial City in around the same time. Taking into account how long he thought he had before someone could be dispatched to check on the 5th Imperial Brocade Guards and how much time there was before Emperor Weide tried to sacrifice his sister, Cao Yun planned his next moves.
During those two months, Cao Yun almost exclusively focused on his Soul Embryo and on the Black Heart Flame. It had absorbed a lot of souls and Death Energy recently, so Cao Yun didn't want it to go out of control. Thankfully, his Rune of Fire was even stronger than before and his Black Heart Flame was already very stable. Thus, he spent most of his time trying to force his soul into his Soul Embryo. Of course, he wasn't too forceful. His 'Asura Strengthens Deva, Deva Enlightens Asura' was helping him tremendously. His Turbid Demons were pushing his soul into his Soul Embryo, and now he was also using his Black Heart Flame to put some pressure as well.
Slowly, he was shaping his Soul Embryo into himself. But he was also almost already cultivating the 6th-grade Spirit Warrior stage, and a little bit of the 7th-grade Spirit Warrior stage. Once he broke through, he would need even less time to advance higher and higher. Usually, it took around fifteen years for an average cultivator to break through each one of those stages. Unfortunately, the Forsaken Dao Era had caused many cultivators to stay stuck, mostly because of deep injuries. The weaker one's Soul Embryo was, the riskier it was to cultivate. After all, once injured, or even worse, destroyed, it was almost impossible to heal one's Soul Embryo. This was why the Lesser Tribulation was so important. Although Cao Yun would not be able to skip a stage completely, he might need only five to ten years for these stages instead of fifteen. Of course, those were just hopeful estimates, but it would be miraculous indeed.
Besides, if Cao Yun was able to become an Exalted Demon before that, he might speed up his soul cultivation even more.
Anyway, after fifty-four days, Cao Yun could finally see the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. With his 'Ashen Feather Seal', not a single demonic beast or human had been able to detect him. In fact, he might actually be able to enter the institute without being seen by anyone. But he didn't want to take unnecessary risks. Instead, he stayed close to the institute while concealed and sent a message to Xiao Xuefeng within it.
After that, he simply waited in a nearby town, completely concealing his cultivation and even his features. For everyone around him, he was just a common young man with nothing in particular. They forgot his existence as soon as he wasn't right in front of them. Cao Yun took a room in a small inn and stayed there. This time, he didn't try to cultivate, he simply rested. In fact, he did nothing but sleep. Although he didn't need to sleep as much as a mere mortal, it was pleasant to let himself drift away.
Cao Yun didn't have to wait very long. After only one day, he felt a very familiar presence in his small room. Apparently, he had been right. Even Xiao Xuefeng wasn't able to detect him. Her presence was all around the inn because Cao Yun had talked about it in his message. After making sure she was really Xiao Xuefeng, Cao Yun dissipated his stealth.