Cao Yun looked at the demons. They were in a very bad condition. His pills were great, so they would help them, but a demon had completely lost half his arm. There was nothing to reattach. Honestly, Cao Yun would probably have been able to regrow his own arm if he had been hurt that way, but making another demon's arm regrow was trickier. Unfortunately, Cao Yun didn't have the time to deal with this. He had saved their lives and had given them enough to survive. From this point onward, they had to rely on their own strength. It would probably be better for them to leave the Weeping Summits. However, Cao Yun could see in their eyes that they wouldn't.
After what they had already lost, they couldn't accept leaving without gaining anything. Cao Yun would respect their decision. They were older than any Flameborn in the Weeping Summits, so he wouldn't treat them like kids even though he was probably twice the age of the youngest in their group.
At the moment, Cao Yun had to be responsible for the young Flameborns with him. Besides, he honestly didn't feel any responsibility toward the demons. He had helped them because they had been in front of him. But he simply couldn't save everyone from all suffering. This wasn't his goal in life, and he had neither the time nor the inclination to play at being a savior. Still, he wasn't heartless, which was why he gave them those pills.
Once he was sure they were stable, Cao Yun left the demons and returned to the three Flameborns. He could tell that they didn't like that at all. Of course, they didn't speak out loud, but helping demons felt wrong to them. Flameborns and demons hated each other. This hatred wasn't as deep as that in the Hongchen Kingdom, but it was still deep. To be fair, the Hongchen Kingdom had literally been founded by slaves of the demons. Although it had happened much longer ago than the wars waged against the Flameborns, the demon kingdoms had never stopped trying to destroy the Hongchen Kingdom. After all, it had literally just happened.
As he thought about that, Cao Yun realized that it had just happened to him a few decades ago. But for the Hongchen Kingdom, it might have been over a century ago. By the time Cao Yun left the Broken Fire World, decades or centuries might have passed for the Hongchen Kingdom. Even he couldn't tell for sure. Moreover, he would go to other worlds of the Withering Fusang Domains. In the end, the Hongchen Kingdom he had known would most likely be gone. The Hongchen Kingdom he would find would be completely different. It pained Cao Yun to remember this.
In fact, Cao Yun even questioned his decision. Like those demons, he had decided to risk his life in order to improve his cultivation. He didn't even have an end goal, he just wanted to improve his cultivation for the sake of it. He wanted more knowledge for knowledge itself. Maybe, by getting to know himself better and better, he might realize that he had lost something important and essential. Cao Yun wasn't exempt from such doubts. Thankfully, his desire to uncover the deepest secrets of the universe and the Dao, and even himself, dwarfed everything else. He had already lived longer than any mortal ever could. As such, he had had a great life and a great family. He had enjoyed his time with his children and grandchildren even when things weren't great.
Ironically, this short moment of doubt steeled his resolve even more.
Instead of dwelling on the matter, or worse, trying to convince the Flameborns that helping demons was right, Cao Yun simply moved on. He knew that he wouldn't change their mind so easily, as they had always known the demons as the enemy since their birth. Unless they lived with demons like Cao Yun had in the Desolate Sepulcher, Cao Yun couldn't change their views on demons. He could only make them suppress their views to make him happy, and he didn't care about doing that. They were young, he had no reason to convert them. Life would be a harsh teacher already.
-
After some time, Cao Yun was ready to go deeper into the caves. Following his compass, he could tell that there were many treasures down below, and he wanted to get them. Not only could they help his cultivation, or the cultivation of the Flameborns or even Hongyu, but they might also help him learn more about the Dao of Fire. Unfortunately, he wasn't absolutely convinced that the three Flameborns could handle it. Thus, he turned toward them.
"In two days, I will descend into the caves of the Weeping Summits. Before I descend there, I need you to hunt fire beasts and bring me a few precious ingredients. If you're unable to meet my demands, I will order you to stay with Hongyu on the surface."
Although Hongyu had gone away to do her thing, Cao Yun could easily find her and ask her to protect the kids. After all, she simply couldn't go through the caves without digging and destroying tunnels here and there. Considering what Cao Yun had seen on the surface, Hongyu could easily defend the Flameborns, especially if they stayed on her back. Of course, this wasn't the best option, but Cao Yun couldn't risk their lives if they weren't ready at all. This time, it was genuinely dangerous. Jinyao had trusted Cao Yun with his daughters, so they had to come back alive. Similarly, Yanzhen was a powerful young genius of the Ancient Obsidian tribe, so he should come back alive as well.
The three Flameborns obviously wanted to explore the caves. But they had to admit that the surface alone had scared them. That being said, they wanted to prove themselves to Cao Yun. All three of them acknowledged his words. Then, they left to find the fire beasts and ingredients Cao Yun had asked for. What they didn't know was that Cao Yun was following them to make sure that they were safe even in this endeavor.
Without the compass to show them treasures, they were searching a bit randomly at first. However, Jinyang and Jinyue had been trained by their father, a hunter. Some lessons had stuck, and they were able to find traces of beasts here and there. Then, they were able to deduce where they got their food and found a few interesting herbs. They even found a dead tree with small fruits on it. The fruits looked like tiny Hellish Dragon Fruits. They were, in fact, Hellish Dragon Fruits, but they had not matured at all, and they would never. Unlike the Hellish Dragon Fruit Cao Yun had once found, there was no Dao of Fire embedded in them. Nonetheless, they were deeply connected to the Dao of Fire.
As the Flameborns tried to grab them, they didn't notice a small change that Cao Yun caught. Yanzhen was watching around while the twins were fetching the fruits. This had been a mistake.
The tree suddenly split apart. Shards flew everywhere, and a thin snake jumped straight for Jinyue, who was closest. The snake looked exactly like a dead branch. Honestly, it literally looked like the tree itself had attacked Jinyue. When it opened its mouth to bite the young lady, it showed a colorful mouth with a tongue that seemed to be made of pure fire. Jinyang was as shocked as her sister and failed to notice something strange on the serpent.
Just like a branch on a tree, something grew from the body of the serpent. There was another head that also darted toward its prey, Jinyang. Both twins were attacked by the heads of the same snake. This was a Deadwood Hydra, a terrifying fire beast that could literally sprout new heads if need be. It perfectly mimicked a tree, and its heads were new branches that could grow.
Yanzhen heard the screams and acted immediately. He turned around and threw two daggers of fire toward the two heads. Thankfully, his precision was great, and neither girl was hit. The first dagger literally pierced the mouth of the head attacking Jinyue, piercing its flesh. However, the second dagger collided with the scales of the other head, similar to wood. The dagger exploded into sparks, simply pushing the beast away from its prey. Both girls were safe for now.
Without hesitation, they each summoned a simple sword of fire and hacked at the beast. In an instant, both heads were cut off. However, the body of the Deadwood Hydra wriggled, and four heads sprouted out. They attacked the two women as soon as they appeared. With incredible speed, the heads attacked Jinyang at her wrist and ankle. Taken by surprise, she didn't react in time and felt a bite at her wrist. As the pain brought her back to reality, she tried to pull back, but the pull on her wrist was too strong. Without losing her composure yet again, she moved forward, destabilizing the head. Her hand quickly grabbed onto the body of the snake, and her sword slashed it, cutting off the head entirely. In the same movement, her sword tried to slice off the other head.
The other head had failed to bite her ankle but simply coiled around her leg, trying to crush it while attempting to bite her thigh and inject her with poison. Thankfully, her sword stabbed through the body of the Deadwood Hydra. She twisted her weapon, and the body caught on fire. As the head was writhing in agony, Jinyang grabbed it and cut it off. The rest of the body stayed coiled around her leg, still causing her pain.
On the other hand, Jinyue had been attacked from the ground and the air, both on her right and left. One head jumped toward her left shoulder while the other one was slithering toward her right leg with more caution. Contrary to her sister, Jinyue reacted immediately. Unfortunately, her sword was too slow. She stabbed toward the head of the Deadwood Hydra, which reacted in time. It coiled around the weapon itself and went straight for Jinyue. Immediately, she released her weapon that exploded into a burst of fire. The head of the Deadwood Hydra was pushed back by the sudden explosion, but it wasn't dead.
This time, Jinyue was shocked and failed to even notice the last head coming from her right. Thankfully, Yanzhen was there. Knowing that Jinyang was able to handle the situation better, Yanzhen focused more on Jinyue. He had been right as she was in a much more difficult situation. He threw several daggers near her leg. Obviously, this surprised her, but this allowed her to see the threat. The head had slithered around and avoided most of the daggers, but a dagger had pierced its body. Taking advantage of the moment when the head was immobilized, Jinyue formed a small sword and cut it off.
The last head was a bit charred, but it wasn't dead. Yanzhen ran forward and cut it off in an instant. He didn't stop and ran all the way toward the tree as he could already tell what would happen. Unfortunately, he was right. The body of the Deadwood Hydra started to wriggle again, and new heads were about to sprout forth. With no hesitation whatsoever, he ran forward while asking the twins to cover him.
Both girls manifested bows of flames. They weren't great at archery, but good enough to avoid hitting Yanzhen. At least, they all hoped so.
While the girls were focused on the wriggling body and Yanzhen, ready to shoot anything growing from the body of the Deadwood Hydra, they failed to notice something behind them. From a distance, Cao Yun saw it and realized that they were severely lacking in battle experience, as he had immediately thought about this possibility. They had never fully seen the body of the Deadwood Hydra, and yet they had assumed that they were seeing all its heads.
Suddenly, eight heads burst from the ground and jumped toward the twins from behind. They were both shocked and couldn't react in time. Snake bodies coiled around them and crushed them to the ground. They were like chains, and the twins were powerless as they didn't have enough time to form new weapons. If Yanzhen failed, the twins would probably die as the Deadwood Hydra was most likely venomous. Of course, Cao Yun was ready to act at a moment's notice. Still, he didn't act because Yanzhen seemed to have understood the situation.
Instead of faltering, Yanzhen simply didn't pay any heed to the screams of the twins. He didn't slow down and reached the Deadwood Hydra. His sword pierced the main trunk of the tree. Then, hundreds of fiery blades erupted from the tree like quills on an animal. The snakes holding the twins went limp and finally let go before any head was able to bite them at all.
Yanzhen twisted his sword as he sliced the tree open. The fiery blades ripped it apart. On the ground, the Deadwood Hydra was completely torn apart. Satisfied that the threat was dead, Yanzhen ran toward Jinyang, who had been bitten once. He grabbed her wrist without hesitation.
"It's going to be painful, stay strong. Let me in."
From his fingers, he sent two tongues of fire into the bite marks. Inside her wrist, he burned all traces of the poison as well as a bit of her flesh. Even for a Flameborn, this was terribly painful. She was weaker than Yanzhen, but she could have tried to fight back. As she knew what he was doing, she didn't hinder him at all and bit her own collar. Jinyue grabbed her other hand to support her.
Seeing her sister in such pain was difficult, but Jinyue didn't hurl any insult or complaint at Yanzhen. She obviously knew what was going on and that Yanzhen was saving her life from the poison.
As it happened, Jinyang felt Yanzhen's fire and heat slowly enter her heat meridians. Beneath the pain, she sensed a warm sensation. Thanks to her training, her heat meridians were strong enough to process this excess heat and spread it throughout her body.
Cao Yun watched everything. He was quite pleased with the three Flameborns as they worked well together, but they should have been better than that. He had doubts about taking them with him.