Once Cao Yun was done planning for the coming days, he left Cangfeng and Shaman Heiyan. The buried old man sighed loudly enough so that Shaman Heiyan heard him.
"It's such a shame that we won't be able to keep him. Make sure that no one disturbs Master Cao. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Summon the three leaders, I will personally talk to them. Their stupidity must be dealt with definitively. Either they can work for the betterment of our Ancient Obsidian tribe, or they must be eliminated. Unlike you, they've been unable to even recognize a direct successor to our noble Ash Bringer."
Shaman Heiyan's heart skipped a bit. He was even afraid to confirm what he thought he had heard. However, he immediately imagined himself leading the Ancient Obsidian tribe. While many would have jumped for joy at the prospect of more power, Shaman Heiyan only wanted to run away. Even though he loved this tribe, he had to admit that it was in a pitiful state. As such, he didn't want to be the one to put the last nail in the coffin.
The three leaders had huge flaws, Shaman Heiyan was well aware of them. But it was fair to admit that they had not ruined this tribe. When they came into power, it was already ruined. At best, they only sped things up. Honestly, that wasn't even that bad. Or rather, it could have been much worse. As a matter of fact, it was why Cangfeng had not intervened before. All their alternatives were worse. Now that Cao Yun was there, though, it could finally change. Putting someone who was closer to Cao Yun in charge, even by a little, and who had more common sense wasn't a stupid idea at all. All that being said, Shaman Heiyan wasn't a politician, nor did he want to become one. Ironically, this might actually be the best reason to choose him as leader.
Anyway, the three leaders were summoned. They all knew that they had failed their ancestors. As such, they went to Cangfeng in penitence. They kowtowed before nothing as Cangfeng was buried underground. For several hours, they stayed immobile, waiting for Cangfeng to talk. If someone were to see them, they would have thought that those three men were insane. They were prostrated before nothing at all, waiting and waiting.
After long hours, Cangfeng finally acknowledged their presence. If he had been healthier, he would have made them wait even longer, but he simply couldn't stay fully conscious for long periods of time. Hopefully, he could rest while Cao Yun was present, but he wouldn't waste his energy for no reason.
Cangfeng informed them of his decision. Despite their frustration, the three leaders accepted his decree. Honestly, Huilu was glad that he wasn't being exiled or executed for trying to merge with the Raging Volcano tribe. Huichi's feelings were complicated because he was happy that Cao Yun had crushed the Raging Volcano tribe. At the same time, this hadn't really been a battle. This Sun-Severing Spear was simply too monstrous even for Huichi. Finally, Huishou stayed neutral and unaffected. He had already guessed everything. Deep down, he even felt a bit relieved as he wouldn't have to balance out his brothers.
Shaman Heiyan's fears came true as he was chosen as the sole leader of the Ancient Obsidian tribe. Thankfully, he had a very good reputation. Moreover, he would have the support of the three leaders, as they would never dare disobey Cangfeng. Besides, Jinyao would also support him, which meant that most hunters would fully support him. In fact, the tribe might be more united than ever before.
-
Cao Yun went back to Jinyao's house. There, everyone was flabbergasted. Of course, they knew that Cao Yun was strong. But his biggest weakness was the Dao of Fire. With the Sun-Severing Spear in his hands, he had literally swallowed the life fire of all his enemies. In mere instants, powerful Flameborns had been extinguished like small candles. It was as if Cao Yun was death itself, and the Sun-Severing Spear a terrifying poison he could unleash at will. Even Jinyue was a bit scared of his presence.
Obviously, Cao Yun was expecting that, but it still didn't feel good.
"Senior, you should have told me that you could have crushed them all like that. I would have taken you to the Raging Volcano tribe the first time we met, and this would have been done."
Jinyue quickly recovered. Immediately, Jinyang grabbed her sleeve and pulled on it.
"Moron, Senior is not a tool you can use. Show more respect."
The twins began to melt the ice. Slowly, Jinyao and Yanzhen also relaxed, realizing that it didn't change anything about Cao Yun himself. They talked and enjoyed some time together. Cao Yun told them more about his life. He didn't hide anything, but, of course, he couldn't tell them everything. They were all completely fascinated by Cao Yun's adventures. Although he hinted at it, only a little, Cao Yun never actually talked about the Withering Fusang Tree. He couldn't just tell them that an evil tree was sucking them dry and turning them mortal.
"Yanzhen, we'll train together in the coming days. Then, we'll visit the Weeping Summits."
"Senior?!"
Yanzhen hesitated, he was quite shocked and didn't know what to answer. However, Jinyue interrupted him before he could actually say anything.
"You refuse Senior's orders?! You didn't look like a coward when you risked your life to protect us! Is it that you only deign to show courage when it's to impress my sister?! You truly have impure thoughts about her, right?!"
Jinyang blushed as she also began to imagine impure thoughts about Yanzhen. This time, Yanzhen really stumbled over his words, unable to form a coherent sentence, especially in front of their father, Jinyao. Thankfully for him, Jinyao took it well. It wasn't a secret to anyone that Yanzhen had feelings for Jinyang. But it wasn't a secret to anyone either that Yanzhen was a decent and honorable young man. As such, Jinyao didn't worry at all, especially now that Cao Yun had almost declared Yanzhen as his disciple. Worse than that, Cao Yun had almost declared Yanzhen as his equal because he wanted them to train together. Indeed, Cao Yun had a lot to learn from Yanzhen when it came to the Dao of Fire.
"Anyway, prepare yourself. We'll leave in a week. First, we'll visit the Raging Volcano tribe to make sure that they understood the message. If they're not ready to submit, we'll have to teach them a lesson."
Cao Yun didn't want to eradicate a tribe. Thus, he planned to go there with his full strength. Ironically, going there with enough power would ensure that they would surrender. Hopefully, this would avoid unnecessary deaths. Although he didn't mind killing, Cao Yun wasn't fond of it, especially if it could be avoided. Like with Jin'ao, it didn't mean that he was merciful at all. He had lived long enough to know that even a weak enemy could become a powerful nemesis in the future. There was no reason to take any risks.
-
Cao Yun waited a week because he wanted to let the Raging Volcano tribe decide. The stories would spread, new leaders would be chosen, and hopefully they would reach a decision.
In the meantime, Cao Yun could cultivate to his heart's content. Now, he didn't need to hide at all, and he trained with Yanzhen himself. Cao Yun was still working on Fire Silk, Tyrannical Flame, and Heatless Flame, but he also integrated other training methods. He was using documents from other masters and Yanzhen's own techniques. Unfortunately, Yanzhen's training methods weren't very compatible with a human. However, they still gave Cao Yun many ideas.
Cao Yun was able to create small blades with fire but was unable to control them as well as his own flying swords. Ironically, the more he wanted to control fire, the less control he had to exert. Fire had to live on its own. Controlling it was like killing it. This truly was difficult. Cao Yun had no problem imagining that he could spend centuries cultivating this Dao of Fire alone. He hadn't even started Ten Thousand Candles.
At the same time, Cao Yun advanced his demon cultivation and also worked on his human cultivation. Even though he was waiting for the foundation of his inner pagoda's third floor, Cao Yun could keep on improving the existing pagoda and foundation. In particular, Cao Yun focused on the world-tree within the second floor.
With his improved understanding of the Dao of Fire, Cao Yun was slowly spreading his Kidney Fire through his spine. It clearly wouldn't take him twenty years to become a 6th-grade Exalted Demon. That being said, it wouldn't take even a mere decade either. His current bodily fire was emerald green. The color was bizarre to Yanzhen, but he knew that demons had strange fires, so it didn't shock him all that much.
At the same time, Cao Yun didn't focus solely on cultivation, he trained Yanzhen in martial arts. When it came to cultivation, Yanzhen was excellent, but he wasn't the best martial artist Cao Yun had ever encountered, far from it. In this small tribe, Yanzhen was almost perfect, but this tribe was truly weak. With a lack of good opponents and sparring partners, Yanzhen's talent had been wasted. As such, Cao Yun trained him relentlessly. The more he could see Yanzhen's potential, the more Cao Yun pushed him.
The poor Yanzhen was exhausted, but he kept on training and training. Since the Withering Fusang Tree was sapping the cultivation of the Flameborns, he wasn't nearly as resilient as Cao Yun was. Unlike a Sage, Flameborns needed to rest and sleep almost like a mortal. Honestly, Cao Yun had almost forgotten about that at first. Realizing that Yanzhen was extremely weak, Cao Yun understood. Having such a powerful young man who still needed to sleep every single day felt wrong.
When Yanzhen cultivated, Cao Yun was trying to sense the presence of the Withering Fusang Tree without being found out. It was crystal clear. That parasitic tree was robbing the Flameborns of their cultivation. Unfortunately, Cao Yun had no way of stopping it at the moment. Or rather, he didn't think he had any way of stopping it. Thinking more about this, Cao Yun began to doubt a little. There might be things he could try, but they were not without risks, both to himself and to others. The most dangerous part was to attract the attention of the Withering Fusang Tree. Even now, Cao Yun was unable to tell if the tree was actually sentient or just acting out of pure instinct.
The Withering Fusang Tree was probably strong enough to crush Cao Yun into nothingness in an instant. After all, it had been feeding on others for countless generations. It was probably close to being a God. At the very least, it couldn't be weaker than an Immortal. Clearly, it wasn't any weaker than Emperor Nuwa or Demon God Da Mo, only stronger.
While Yanzhen was training, Cao Yun examined his body. He sent his senses within the flesh of Yanzhen in order to fully understand the physiology of a Flameborn. They didn't have meridians and Dantian, and their flesh was slightly different from humans and demons. However, he could find currents of heat and flames within his body. They followed very specific rhythms. In a way, those weren't so different from meridians. In Yanzhen's flesh, Cao Yun was able to find small sparks almost everywhere. Looking more closely, he realized that those were burning ashes. They were absolutely invisible to the naked eye and looked very similar to the cells of his own body. Flameborns weren't made of actual flesh and blood, the Dao of Fire had somehow given shape to fire, and it had taken the shape of flesh and blood.
As such, studying the Dao of Fire could allow Flameborns to see beyond the apparent flesh and understand the true nature of their bodies. In a sense, their bodies were very close to actual Immortal bodies. Their life fire was the fire that kept all those tiny pieces of ash burning. Without this life fire, their bodies would indeed fall apart. Apparently, renewing their life fire was more complex than Cao Yun had initially thought. Protecting Yanzhen from the Withering Fusang Tree would be difficult. In fact, Cao Yun wanted to see how Flameborns were born, as it would help him formulate a better cultivation method.
In Emperor Nuwa's journals, Cao Yun had read about the birth of Flameborns, but he needed to be there in person to actually study the very formation of their bodies. Anyway, Cao Yun still wrote a form of simplified cultivation method.
At this stage, there was only one realm. Although it was rudimentary, Cao Yun thought it was worth a try.
The priority of a Flameborn was to improve his control over his life fire. As such, Cao Yun developed exercises to improve the perception of one's life fire by following the current of heat and flames within. The very first step was thus to inhale fire and heat from the outside world and to circulate it inside their heat meridians. Slowly, it would reduce how much life fire they were using in order to keep their body alive.
For now, Cao Yun didn't even give it a name, he simply gave the method to Yanzhen and helped him feel the heat meridians Cao Yun had codified. Based on his understanding of human meridians and blood vessels, Cao Yun had tried to map out all the heat vessels within Yanzhen. It wasn't perfect, but it was still very good. After only a few cultivation sessions, Yanzhen could sense a slight difference. Although it wasn't much, it still felt very good. Yanzhen could train a bit harder without getting more tired.
Yanzhen had no doubt that this method was great. And he was looking forward to Cao Yun completing it. The young Flameborn imagined the legends of old...