Cao Yun could see the tops of trees in the distance. The world he was in was completely dark from above, but light was coming from below, through fire and magma. In the sky, the clouds sometimes looked like embers, reflecting some of the warm light from below. At the same time, the clouds themselves seemed to produce heat and light here and there, but it was almost impossible to distinguish this light from the reflection. However, those trees were producing light. In fact, they were producing a white light, very similar to faint stars. The heat from within was making them incandescent.
Although Cao Yun had read about those strange forests, he was still impressed by the sight. The trees were sturdy enough to resist the heat. And the way the trees reproduced was also very bizarre. When Cao Yun approached, he saw that the ground itself was covered in white ash. This ash was made of trees that had been uprooted. When a tree died, it collapsed entirely into ashes that would later produce more trees as the ashes were swept away by the winds.
As Cao Yun approached the white forest, Hongyu felt a sudden shift in the wind. Instinctively, she landed and clawed herself into the ground. Cao Yun followed suit using his cultivation. A terrifying gust of wind swept past them. The heat transported by the wind was insane, and they both felt as though they were standing just above the mouth of an active volcano. When the wind hit the white forest, many trees were torn apart and exploded into ashes when they crashed into the ground. Ashes were flying everywhere. This was how the white forest lived and prospered.
Despite the heat, no tree actually caught on fire. After all, they were already on fire from within, creating this white light.
After a few hours, Cao Yun and Hongyu were not pinned to the ground anymore, so they gently walked through the white ashes. They tried not to disturb anything. Cao Yun approached a white tree and tried to sense the fire within. Even with his understanding of the Dao of Fire, this was very difficult. That fire felt alive and didn't want to be studied. However, Cao Yun could still feel a vague sensation. Despite his reluctance, Cao Yun decided to grab some of the ashes. However, he didn't take any part of the tree, nor did he take any trees. Indeed, he knew that they would collapse into ashes immediately anyway. Besides, from what he had read in Emperor Nuwa's journals, the trees and the ashes shouldn't be disturbed too much and weren't very precious to a human or a demon.
As the two were about to exit the white forest, they felt something. Cao Yun reacted before Hongyu. From underneath the white ashes, a small snake jumped toward the human to bite his head off. From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out a sword. As it flew out of Cao Yun's spatial ring, the sword slashed the white snake's head. However, it didn't cut the snake too deeply. Its head was bleeding a lot, but it was still attached to its body. Clearly scared, the white snake hid in the white ashes and tried to escape as fast as possible.
Following the smell of the blood, Cao Yun threw his sword, which pierced the snake's head. It was completely nailed to the ground. This time, it was dead. According to Cao Yun's knowledge, this was an Ashburrow Viper. This meant that they had to leave rather fast. Indeed, Cao Yun could tell that this was a female, so it was most likely close to its nest. In other words, many more Ashburrow Vipers could attack them at any moment. That being said, Cao Yun did take the corpse of the beast.
This wasn't a demonic beast, however. Indeed, it had no demonic core whatsoever. At the same time, it wasn't an animal. Emperor Nuwa had found no use in naming those beasts because all the beasts of the Broken Fire World were like this. Instead of demonic cores, they gained their strength from their fire essence. This fire essence was diluted throughout their entire bodies, but mostly present in their blood, hearts, and marrow. As such, those fire beasts were usually excellent materials.
For a moment, Cao Yun wondered if he should hunt a few fire beasts, but restrained himself. This wasn't the right moment yet. For now, he had to get a feeling for this land and its threats. Hopefully, he could find what he was looking for first. Later, he would have plenty of time to explore some more. Fire beasts could be a great way for Hongyu to develop her cultivation and finally become an immortal beast.
Anyway, the duo kept on walking. They found lakes and rivers made entirely of flames, but also rivers of molten metal here and there. At some point, they found a huge waterfall of magma. However, it was flowing backward. This was extremely strange, and most likely caused by the bizarre space all around them. Cao Yun was certain that the fires and the heat were affecting space, but they weren't the main cause of such a disaster. Thanks to Emperor Nuwa, he knew exactly what was behind it all, and even what was behind the name of this world of sulfur.
At some point, Cao Yun and Hongyu were forced to take refuge under a solidified magma cave. From the sky above, a dangerous kind of rain was falling. This was called Ember Snow. Literal balls of fire were falling from the dark clouds above. Even Cao Yun and Hongyu would be burned by those balls. The wounds wouldn't be too bad, but they would undoubtedly be wounded.
While they were in hiding, Cao Yun sensed the presence of another fire beast nearby. This was a Cinderclaw Wolverine. At first glance, it looked like a silver wolf. However, it had six legs. As the name would suggest, its claws were the color of cinders, and they were both beautiful and terrifying. Cao Yun and Hongyu could imagine those claws piercing their flesh. In a fight, Cao Yun and Hongyu were certain to win, but they also knew that they could be lacerated nonetheless. Its head was a bit more elongated than a typical wolf. Besides, its fur was in fact made of ash.
The fire beast was clearly trying to get into the cave as it was running from the Ember Snow. Unfortunately, the cave was occupied by two dangerous creatures. Cao Yun and Hongyu looked at the Cinderclaw Wolverine, who was in pain as the Ember Snow kept on falling on its back. As it was squirming, the Cinderclaw Wolverine tried to figure out what the worst thing was. Should it fight for the cave or endure the Ember Snow? Sensing its plight, Cao Yun and Hongyu both walked backward, deeper into the cave. The Cinderclaw Wolverine saw this and slowly walked forward. The fire beast was cautious until a ball of Ember Snow fell on its muzzle. In an instant, it rushed into the cave.
As soon as it was inside the cave, the Cinderclaw Wolverine stared at the duo. It was obviously worried and cautious. Several times, it showed its fangs, but Hongyu, Cao Yun, and the Cinderclaw Wolverine didn't move at all. Slowly, the fire beast calmed down, but it kept its eyes on Cao Yun and Hongyu. Fear had been replaced by curiosity, as it had never met such a creature as Hongyu before. Cao Yun could tell that he appeared more familiar to the Cinderclaw Wolverine, but Hongyu was a mystery. The fire beast couldn't assess how dangerous she was, but she was big.
Finally, the Ember Snow stopped. As they could leave the cave, the Cinderclaw Wolverine became even more tense than before. After all, this would be an opportunity for it or for the other occupants of the cave to attack. Cao Yun and Hongyu didn't move because the Cinderclaw Wolverine was between them and the only opening. Slowly, the Cinderclaw Wolverine backed up, still looking at the duo. When it was outside the cave, the Cinderclaw Wolverine seemed to move its head in a show of gratitude before darting off into the distance.
Cao Yun and Hongyu left as well. The human was a bit troubled by this encounter, but he quickly focused on other matters.
Later, they saw a small pack of Cinderclaw Wolverines. The fire beasts looked in their direction, a few of them were about to run and to attack, but they immediately stopped and ran in the other direction. Cao Yun couldn't tell whether the Cinderclaw Wolverine they had met was with the pack or not, but he instinctively linked the two events. Maybe that Cinderclaw Wolverine had been separated from its pack. Afterwards, it had come back to them and was still with them. Of course, Cao Yun was just guessing.
Cao Yun and Hongyu went through various landscapes. This Broken Fire World was simply incredible in how different it was from the Piaolu planet. By then, they both were used to the burning and corrosive atmosphere, but it certainly wasn't pleasant at all. Unfortunately, they entered a valley that was completely saturated in volcanic gases. Flying above it would have made things worse. Indeed, Hongyu couldn't fly high enough to avoid the gas, and her wings would simply disturb the gas and make them inhale it faster. As such, Cao Yun and Hongyu simply walked forward, this was more than unpleasant, but the gas couldn't harm them.
Within the gas, though, there were other things. Smoke Wraiths attacked them. Those fire beasts were strange creatures almost entirely made of gas, and they only had a few pieces that were organic, almost like tiny bones floating in the gas. Those bones contained their fire essence in their marrow and were somehow controlling the gas around them. They were also extremely territorial and aggressive. Cao Yun and Hongyu had to fight their way through the gaseous valley. Thankfully, the Smoke Wraiths weren't too dangerous individually. Of course, the real nightmare was that they could barely be seen and they always attacked in large groups.
This time, Cao Yun took out almost all of his swords and used them like a shield. He also pushed his perception as far as he could. Inside the gas, its range was shorter than he had hoped. However, this was still enough for him to go through the valley, slashing bones here and there.
When they were outside this valley of gas, Cao Yun was certain that they were extremely close to his goal, according to Emperor Nuwa's journals.
For the very first time, Cao Yun and Hongyu found traces of civilization. They saw the rusty tip of a spear in the ground. Beneath layers of ashes and dirt, Cao Yun dug up not only a spear, but a spearman. It was difficult to say just from the bones, but this had been a demon. His armor was in a terrible state, but it looked like the armor Demon God Da Mo's first expedition in the Broken Fire World had used.
In Emperor Nuwa's journals, what Cao Yun was looking for was near the site of the first large-scale battle of Demon God Da Mo's campaign in the Broken Fire World. So, the human knew that he was getting closer to his goal. From the moment he had entered this world, less than a month had passed. But it meant that many months, maybe years, had passed on the Piaolu planet. This was simply impossible to say.
Now that they were close to Cao Yun's goal, Cao Yun and Hongyu walked more slowly.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps. More accurately, they heard people running as fast as they could. And those steps were coming in their direction. Cao Yun used his stealth on himself and Hongyu. Then, they observed.
They saw two identical young girls. Physically, they didn't seem to be older than sixteen, but it was difficult to tell for sure. It wasn't because of their cultivation. No, it was because of their nature. They weren't neither humans nor demons. The two girls in front of Cao Yun were Flameborns, the inhabitants of the Broken Fire World.
They were wearing simple dresses covered in dirt and torn a bit here and there, most likely from running through trees or bushes of some kind, maybe even because of rocks. They were breathing extremely loudly and panting. Their pale faces had become incredibly red, and their legs were obviously hurting. However, despite all their pain, they kept on running. Cao Yun could tell that they were not running toward him. This was just a coincidence because they were merely running in their general direction.
Behind them, Cao Yun and Hongyu finally understood the reason why they were running. There were eight young men and three young women running after them. Some appeared almost as young, but most of them were a bit older, but not that much older either. Only one man was older than the rest. Since the older man was a Flameborn too, Cao Yun couldn't tell his strength just by judging his cultivation.
Unlike humans and asuras, or even devas, Flameborns had no real cultivation. Similarly to fire beasts, their strength came from the fire within. But their strength was related to how much they understood the Dao of Fire, while fire beasts couldn't understand it, they wielded it instinctively like demonic beasts in a sense.
Anyway, Cao Yun's understanding of the Dao of Fire didn't allow him to fully grasp the strength of all the Flameborns present. However, there was absolutely no doubt that the two girls would be unable to resist this group of eleven Flameborns. Unfortunately, they had run for too long. One of the young girls fell, and the other girl refused to abandon her.
Cao Yun was certain that they were twin sisters. The twin on the ground could not stand up on her own. Despite her words, her sister still helped her up and supported her as they ran away together. Cao Yun couldn't understand their words because they spoke a language unique to this world. But he could clearly guess their intentions.
Sadly, the eleven Flameborns caught up with them and quickly surrounded them. The twins were doomed. Whatever that group wanted, it wasn't anything good