Cao Bei stayed silent in front of his parents. Cao Sheng was still seething with rage. To be honest, he had never really liked his brother. The two of them were completely different. But this was the first time in his life he had been ashamed to be his brother. If his parents hadn't been there, he would have gotten violent. On the other hand, Cao Yanmei didn't really know how to react. Everything had been perfect, and she had even announced her desire to get married. From now on, her memories would always be tainted by Cao Bei's actions.
The youngest son of Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue could see all those eyes on him. This was worse than anything he had ever felt in his entire life. He would rather be skinned alive or burned to death than just endure those looks. The most terrible part was that he couldn't do a thing because he was completely in the wrong. If he had come to his father, they would have resolved the matter with this Jiang Zhenlu directly and probably prevented any attack. In fact, if he had not gotten rid of his bodyguards because he wanted to gamble and visit a brothel, nothing would have happened in the first place. Better yet, if he had not gambled and drunk himself silly, there would have been no need for bodyguards.
Something came to Cao Bei's mind. His parents had known about Jiang Zhenlu for quite some time. Indeed, he had already been found and killed. More than that, all of his accomplices had been punished as well. In other words, for months, his parents had known that Cao Bei was hiding this from them.
Still kneeling on the ground, Cao Bei broke down and kowtowed as low as he could. He literally hit his forehead against the floor.
"This unfilial one deserves your harsh punishment. I should have listened to you long ago. No matter what, I will make amends to Grand-uncle Fang Shaolong and his wife. I will donate all that I can to those who were hurt by my mistakes. If father and mother allow me, I would also like to join the Ten Thousand Rivers Monastery."
The last words shocked Cao Sheng, knowing his brother. People could join the Ten Thousand Rivers Monastery as monks, but that meant that they were forbidden from meat, wine, and carnal pleasures for at least ten years. Some monks took an even longer vow and became ascetics for decades, or even their entire life. There were many different ways to join a monastery, but this was probably one of the harshest. Only the most determined monks took this oath. Cao Sheng was impressed but quickly realized that his brother would change his mind and break his vow anyway.
On the other hand, Cao Yanmei could tell that her brother was serious. However, she didn't know how long this seriousness would last. Being determined to do something and actually doing it, for ten years, were completely different things.
Honestly, Cao Yun had not thought about a suitable punishment for his son. He had tried various ways with his wife, but they had failed with Cao Bei. Despite being a brilliant cultivator and martial artist, Cao Yun was scared of being a terrible father. Even though he had spent as much time as possible with his kids, he was afraid that he had not been there for them, while being afraid he hadn't given them enough freedom. Maybe it was because his own family had died that he felt the need to be present all the time, and he tried to compensate by giving them freedom when they were older. It was also to teach them responsibility. Feng Yingyue kept telling him that he wasn't a terrible father, but he was always worried about it.
"Son, if you are serious about your commitment, I will ask the Ten Thousand Rivers Monastery to receive you. They will decide if you deserve to enter the monastery or not. However, if you decide to join them, you will have to stay at least ten years there. No matter what happens, you won't be allowed to leave the monastery and break your vow before the end of the decade. Hopefully, this will teach you something about yourself. Son, you can't keep living this life. One way or another, something must change. I sincerely hope that those are not just words spoken in the moment. So, think more deeply about your decision before I send you to an abbot."
"I understand, Father. This decision is indeed sudden, but I do not see any other way to change myself. I don't want to keep bringing shame on our family. I will only ask Father and Mother to allow me to visit Baziyun City to ask forgiveness of my grand-uncle and his wife."
Finally, the atmosphere seemed to shift. It became less tense. After a few more minutes, Feng Yingyue talked to Cao Yanmei.
"Daughter, let's talk about the young man you want to introduce to us. Please, tell us how you two met."
-
Cao Bei finally went to Baziyun City. He begged for forgiveness and swore to pay back all the money he had taken from his grand-uncle. Fang Shaolong's wife was very loving to Cao Bei. Seeing her broke his heart a little. She was sad to see him leave for a monastery, but Fang Shaolong assured her that she could go see Cao Bei at least once a year, maybe even twice, as the monastery wasn't very far and the monks allowed visitors, of course. This wasn't exactly a prison, thankfully.
Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue met Cao Yanmei's future husband. He was from a small family and accepted to enter the Cao family rather than to have Cao Yanmei enter his household. In the Hongchen Kingdom, this wasn't completely unusual. However, it wasn't common either for a man to enter his bride's family. Of course, entering the Cao family was such an honor that no one would ever construe it as an insult of any kind, even if the man had come from a very important family...
As it turned out, Cao Sheng also met a woman in the following months. Unlike his older sister, he was much slower. War was one thing, but romance was completely foreign to him, and he didn't know how to handle it very well. Ironically, his younger brother Cao Bei could have helped him. On the other hand, he might not have liked his help, or his mockeries.
At last, Cao Bei entered the Ten Thousand Rivers Monastery. Cao Yun knew Abbot Mu Hue there. Mu Hue had been Long Jian's lover when they were both disciples of the Wubei Sect. As such, Cao Yun had a lot of influence on her. Obviously, he asked her to ignore that Cao Bei was his son and to treat him as harshly as necessary, as if he were just another monk from some wealthy family. Apparently, it wasn't uncommon for rich sons or daughters to be sent to a monastery to learn better behavior. And it seemed to work really well. Besides, although the Ten Thousand Rivers Monastery was following the Sutra Faith, it was possible to be a secular monk. Indeed, the ideas of the School of Ren Dao didn't clash with the Sutra Faith. Anyway, Cao Bei could stay there whether he wanted to convert to the Sutra Faith or not. Personally, Cao Yun had no real faith, and he was more or less following the School of Ren Dao, but more as a philosophy. As a cultivator, Cao Yun was seeking answers and truths, and he didn't adhere to any existing dogma. Of course, his view of the world was influenced by the School of Ren Dao and also the Sutra Faith, to be fair.
-
Because of all this trouble, Cao Yun couldn't enter seclusion for three months after his breakthrough. That being said, he spent most of his time cultivating. It was just that he didn't enter into several years of absolute isolation.
During those few months, Cao Yun spent most of his time meditating on what he had gained during the breakthrough. He studied his inner world as much as he could and worked on his Dao of Fire. As he was working on this Dao of Fire, it was also improving his asura cultivation. After all, his asura cultivation consisted of producing his Three Bodily Fires before merging them together into his True Fire.
When it came to the Dao of Fire, Cao Yun focused on Fire Silk. Since the fire was quite literally in his body, he had the benefit of his asura and human cultivation at the same time. He could feel the fire with his flesh and with his soul. Thanks to this, he could tell that his understanding of the Dao of Fire was growing much faster than before. He was quickly able to create a very thin tongue of fire. In fact, it was so thin that even he couldn't see it with his naked eyes. In other words, no one on the Piaolu planet could see it without using spiritual senses or sensing the Dao of Fire.
After succeeding at this first step, Cao Yun tried to make it as long as possible without breaking it. According to Red Calm, a true success would be when the Fire Silk was ten li* long, but perfection would be a hundred li long. Obviously, Cao Yun wanted to reach perfection in Fire Silk before going further into his study of the Dao of Fire. While manipulating Fire Silk, he had to put more fire in it to make it longer. But the added fire either broke the Fire Silk or made it longer. At the same time, he had to control the temperature, as he realized that the hotter the flame was, the more unstable the Fire Silk was, but the easier it was to expand it. This exercise was never boring because fire was always different. It was almost as if fire was alive in Cao Yun's hands.
At this point, Cao Yun had fully formed a Dao Seed for his Dao of Fire. It was the seed of the Solar-Orchid Flame. While he was working on the Dao of Fire, it was slowly turning into a Dao Bud.
Finally, Cao Yun was able to fully enter seclusion. He locked himself in a secret room of the Sect Palace with array formations completely sealing him from the outside world. Only a handful of people could actually disturb him in case of emergency. As such, he could lose himself in his meditation and cultivation. And that was exactly what he did.
After working on his Dao of Fire for several months, he decided to focus on his Dao of Death.
From his spatial ring, he took out the small Bone Demon he had captured. It was still a meager Bone Child, but it was completely under Cao Yun's control. Cao Yun wanted to work on his 'Death Verses', and particularly on 'Macabre Dance'. 'Macabre Dance' was about reanimating dead bodies using Death Energy. It wasn't about resurrecting any living thing, simply controlling the corpses. Of course, the best way to test it would be to manipulate the Bone Child. What Cao Yun was trying to do was to create his own Bone Demons.
Using his new senses, he explored the body of the Bone Child as much as he could, following the flow of the Death Energy and Evil Qi within. In his mind, Cao Yun had a perfect map of all the energy within. Besides, this map was moving. As he tried to predict the flow of the Death Energy, he compared it with the real thing until his predictions were near perfect.
When he was confident enough, Cao Yun used some of his own Death Energy outside of his body. Using his knowledge of 'Soul Chains', he materialized his Death Energy and then tried to mold it into a Bone Child. It was working. Slowly, his Death Energy turned into actual bones. In a matter of weeks, Cao Yun was able to create a perfect duplicate of the Bone Child. However, as soon as Cao Yun retracted his intent, it collapsed. Without an actual corpse or bones to animate, his Death Energy couldn't stay contained in a physical form. Something was missing, he could tell that there was a difference with the Bone Child, but he couldn't find out what it was.
After more than two months without much progress, Cao Yun finally changed his approach. He tried to control the Bone Child using only his Death Energy. The Bone Child was trying to resist as Cao Yun willed it to. In a sense, Cao Yun was fighting himself to see if his 'Macabre Dance' was stronger than the will he had imprinted on the Bone Child. Until he tested it on an actual corpse, it would be the same, but Cao Yun was becoming more confident in his technique. He might actually be able to animate small corpses. However, he wanted something else.
In the Yellow Death World, he had seen how Bone Demons cultivated. Now, he wanted to try to cultivate his Bone Child into a Bone Warrior. Every now and then, he poured Death Energy into the small Bone Demon. Although the changes were small, there was absolutely no doubt that the Bone Child was indeed growing.
From time to time, Cao Yun would use his Black Heart Flame to work on the Dao of Fire and the Dao of Death at the same time. He was progressing in both Daos, but his progress in both was a bit slow. When compared to anyone else, the progress was very good, but Cao Yun couldn't really compare himself to anyone else on the Piaolu planet. Instead, he compared himself to Cleansed Asura and Axiu Qian. Those two were geniuses, so Cao Yun couldn't really hope to be as good as them, especially since it was really the first time he had actively studied the Dao.
Obviously, Cao Yun also worked on his cultivation. He was advancing in his Sage realm and Exalted Demon realm at the same time. Once again, his asura cultivation was easier to raise. Besides, it was improving his Dao of Fire. And his improvement in the Dao of Fire helped him cultivate his Three Bodily Fires faster. It didn't take him more than five years to fully develop his Common People's Fire and become a 2nd-grade Exalted Demon.
His fire was now a reddish-violet hue. Now, he had to make it ascend through his body in order to fill his lower abdomen with it. It was only a matter of time, especially with his study of the Dao of Fire. Cao Yun was very pleased with his cultivation. As such, he lost all notion of time. In fact, he could stay in seclusion for several decades.
* Approximately, 1 li = 500 m = 500 yd