Jinyang was about to present Cao Yun to the tribe, but Jinyue stopped her and did it herself. She was afraid that her sister would say the wrong things.
"Elders, this man is our savior, Senior Cao Yun. We were attacked, and unfortunately, our comrade Xuanhui was killed. Without Senior Cao Yun's help, we would have died as well. Senior Cao Yun and his companion, Lady Hongyu, helped us come back."
Obviously, Jinyue hid the nature of the attack in front of the tribe. Only the leaders had to hear about it. At the moment, she didn't want to cause any form of panic or resentment. Jin'ao's death would be a huge problem, so the leaders of the tribe had to decide on the right course of action without pressure from the rest of the tribe. For now, it was better to conceal the actual events, but she wouldn't lie either.
Hearing Jinyue, the tribe was convinced that Hongyu had actually saved them all. After all, they could feel a powerful fire in her. She wasn't as strong as their leaders, but she was very close nonetheless. Besides, her fire had a strange property. Just like Jinyue and Jinyang, they felt a sense of familiarity and intimacy with Hongyu somehow. Her bloodline was very potent and had deep ties to the Dao of Fire. Obviously, she almost appeared as a mother to them.
On the other hand, Cao Yun appeared extremely weak. In fact, he didn't seem to be more powerful than a mere child. His fire was weak, and he didn't appear to have any understanding of the Dao of Fire. In fact, the tribe had a bad opinion of him, because they could feel something rotten in his fire somehow. They couldn't exactly put their finger on it. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad, but they simply didn't like him that much. Honestly, the fact that he was a stranger and not a Flameborn added to the sentiment. Most Flameborns thought that he was a demon, so it didn't help at all.
"Senior Cao Yun is a traveler. He's not a demon, nor a Flameborn. May I ask the elders to allow him to rest within our tribe?"
Before anyone could answer, Jinyao talked.
"I will welcome him into my house. He's saved my daughters, after all. If any of those who refused to go out to save them with me want to speak against my decision, I await their words."
Jinyao was elated to have his daughters back, but he still resented a few tribesmen who had tried to comfort him recently. Indeed, their comfort was to make him accept that his daughters were dead and that going out to find them was suicidal. Although he knew that they meant no harm, he still couldn't accept their behavior. If their kids had disappeared in such a way, Jinyao would have never dared to say such things before their ashes were even found. Thankfully, several tribesmen had instead supported him. In fact, he had finally been able to form a search party.
Partly because they felt guilty, the leaders had no choice but to accept Jinyao's decision. The three middle-aged men turned toward Cao Yun.
"Stranger, we thank you for protecting our tribesmen. If you want to stay with our Ancient Obsidian tribe, we will not refuse you. Jinyao, we are happy for you. However, we have to apologize. Our Ancient Obsidian tribe failed to protect your daughters properly."
Then, they noticed a couple. They had just arrived and looked at the two girls. Frantically, they looked all over the place as if they were expecting to see someone but couldn't find them. They were obviously Xuanhui's parents. Without waiting, Jinyue and Jinyang walked to them and knelt. Jinyue took out a small pouch filled with ashes, Xuanhui's ashes. She held the pouch out to the parents.
"Xuanhui sacrificed his life to save ours. We're sorry. Thanks to Senior Cao Yun, we were able to collect his ashes. Without Xuanhui, both of us would have suffered a terrible fate. But without us, Xuanhui might have been able to escape his fate."
Following their example, Jinyao also knelt before the couple.
"Your son saved my daughters. I will repay this debt with all my heat. I failed Xuanhui as a teacher. Do not blame my daughters for this tragedy, blame this miserable old fool instead."
The mother broke down, but the father supported her. He took the pouch without saying anything and held it in front of him for some time. Then, he pressed it against his chest, holding back tears.
"We do not blame any of you... Thank you..."
He simply couldn't say anything more and walked away with his wife. This really wasn't the moment to say anything more. Later, though, the twin sisters hoped to tell them the entire truth. For now, they wanted only the leaders of the tribe to hear it. That being said, they had already told their father, to be fair.
It took some time for the situation to calm down. The crowd thinned out slowly while the leaders went back to the temple. They had to discuss important matters. For now, they asked Jinyang to bring Cao Yun to Jinyao's house. In the meantime, the three leaders and the shaman took Jinyue and Jinyao with them. Obviously, they knew that there was more to this story and they wanted all the details. While they spoke, even from the other side of the tribe, Cao Yun could hear them distinctly. After all, the tribe was small.
While Cao Yun walked with Jinyang, he looked around at the tribe and the tribesmen but also heard the entire conversation. Honestly, he was much more shocked by what he saw. First of all, the tribe was indeed in a very poor state. In the distance, he could see ruins of old buildings. But even within the confines of the tribe, there were buildings that didn't seem safe and were on the brink of collapse but no one seemed to be able to repair them. Most likely, they simply lacked the materials. People were quite thin and exhausted. He saw several Flameborns share food and realized that they ate very little. Although he didn't know how much Flameborns needed to eat compared to humans, it was clear that this wasn't enough, as he saw a few kids whose bones were almost visible through their skin.
Thankfully, it was not affecting everyone. However, Cao Yun felt as though a famine was hovering over the tribe. They were still able to make do for now, but it wouldn't last very long either. In fact, they had prioritized their warriors and hunters with the food distribution because they were vital to the tribe. Most likely, this was why Jinyao, Jinyang, and Jinyue were relatively well fed. Of course, Cao Yun had a lot of food, but he wouldn't take it out of the blue right now. He still needed to observe the tribe. Besides, he had already thought of a way to give more food to the tribe without being found out. He would do so as soon as he could.
The poor state of the tribe was disturbing. But what truly shocked Cao Yun was something different. While walking through the tribe, he saw a few kids playing around. At first, he didn't even realize what was shocking until he examined the ball and ropes they were using to play. They were made out of fire. More than that, the kids had manifested them from fire. In other words, mere kids had mastered Fire Silk, at least. Probably, they had mastered much more than that. After all, the Dao of Fire was quite literally in their blood. Obviously, this hit Cao Yun in the guts. All the time he had spent cultivating and meditating seemed like a joke. It was no wonder the tribe found him weak. When it came to fire, he was much weaker than them all, and likely at the level of a child, a talented child.
Finally, Jinyang and Cao Yun arrived at her house. It wasn't very large, but it was much better than what Cao Yun had imagined at first. Despite not being the greatest warrior, Jinyao was a good hunter and had a lot of friends. Like all the hunters, he was treated pretty well by the tribe because he was essential.
While Jinyang helped Cao Yun settle in her house, he listened to the discussion of the leaders. Jinyue explained everything to the leaders and the shaman, absolutely everything. At first, the leaders barely believed her about Cao Yun's strength, but they realized that she was telling the truth. That was when the shaman Heiyan said something.
"If this Cao Yun speaks Primitive Nuhua, and from everything that Jinyue told us, I think that this man is a human, the same species as the Ash Bringer."
"What?!"
"I see no other explanation. I've observed his fire, there is almost nothing. However, his cultivation is strange, similar to that of demons but more closely related to humans. It's difficult to tell his strength, or even his age. Humans can cultivate to become immortals. Although he appears young to us, he might be older than even our progenitor."
"Ridiculous!"
"Heresy!"
"Shaman, are you saying that this man is...?"
"No. I'm not saying anything at all about this. But he is certainly a human like the Ash Bringer. We can't judge his strength, so it's better not to antagonize him."
The sturdier of the three leaders seemed to take it as a challenge. He was Huichi. On the other hand, his brothers Huilu and Huishou had doubts. Of course, they didn't want to doubt the words of their shaman, but it seemed difficult to accept. After all, if he was the same species as the Ash Bringer, this had very specific and dangerous implications. No matter what happened, they couldn't let the tribe know about this.
The taller brother Huilu spoke next.
"No matter what his identity is, we have a problem. The Raging Volcano tribe has wanted to devour us for quite some time now. Despite my calls for diplomacy, things have escalated. Now that we harbor the man who killed Rong Shan's son, they have actual reasons to go to war with us. They can easily defend their decision before the Fire Thearch. This is a huge problem, we can't win such a war. We should immediately send an emissary to Rong Shan to distance ourselves from this man. If we send back the ashes of his son, and maybe the head of the stranger, we could avoid a conflict."
Jinyang would have said something immediately, but Jinyue and Jinyao stayed silent, even though they felt the exact same way Jinyang would have felt. They both wanted to slap Huilu until he stopped spewing such nonsense. Rong Shan's son had tried to abuse Jinyao's daughters, and now Huilu wanted to appease the man for a death he deserved. Thankfully, they knew that they didn't need to say anything. Although Huichi didn't like Cao Yun after hearing Shaman Heiyan, he hated everything his brother had just said.
"You disgusting, sniveling coward. They encroach upon our hunting grounds, they drive us to famine, they hope that we devour each other for sustenance, they now even attack our youths. And you want to grovel at their feet and beg for forgiveness. Their heads should be at our feet. We shouldn't have to fear them waging war, we should fear not having enough flames to lick their flesh."
"Fool! We can't win with bravado alone! We can barely sustain our hunters, and you want us to go to war?! You're simply insane! If you want to die, go die alone. I would rather grovel than watch my tribe die of hunger. My pride is not as valuable as the lives of my tribesmen."
"Really?! But you forget Xuanhui's death so easily, just as you forget the plight of Jinyao's daughters. If Jin'ao had abused them, you would probably have been happy, as you could have had them marry him and forge the alliance you want. I wonder how much Rong Shan pays you!"
"You...! You dare?!"
"Brothers, brothers!"
Finally, Huishou stood up. He stopped his two brothers from literally killing each other. Since the beginning, he had sat between them, knowing what was to come.
"You're letting your emotions run wild. Brother Huilu's concerns are legitimate. We cannot win a war, and we cannot let our Ancient Obsidian tribe die. However, Brother Huichi is right on many points. We cannot let our tribesmen be abused in any way, shape, or form by the Raging Volcano tribe, or any other tribe for that matter. This situation is delicate, but it isn't Cao Yun who put us in such a position. Remember that it was Jin'ao who did it. Knowing Rong Shan, I cannot imagine that he agrees with his son's actions. However, he will want revenge for his son's death. Thankfully, we can stall with his son's ashes. But we have to work together to find a solution. Open war would be a disaster, but total submission is no better than slavery or death."
While the brothers kept on screaming and almost fighting, Shaman Heiyan stayed quiet. Terrible ideas were keeping him busy. He had to read the chronicles of the Ash Bringer. Hopefully, he would find the answers. And hopefully they would be the answers he wanted. But deep down, he could feel that the answers wouldn't be to his liking. That being said, this might be the answer to the Ancient Obsidian tribe's survival. Although the truth scared him, this might save his fellow tribesmen. Shaman Heiyan literally stopped listening to the never-ending arguments of the three brothers. He would much rather have one dominate the other two and decide on something, even if it was a bad decision. Right now, the Ancient Obsidian tribe simply couldn't decide on most issues because Huilu and Huichi kept on clashing with each other. Besides, Huishou didn't want to antagonize either of them, so he was unable to decide who was right on any issue. As such, the trio was stuck.
Cao Yun was listening to everything. Of course, the idea of Huilu giving him up to Rong Shan didn't appeal to him very much. However, he wasn't pleased with Huichi either. Before waging war, they had to prepare the tribe, they couldn't just wage war and hope for victory. Even Huishou didn't appear to be a good leader, as he could never settle any argument. Cao Yun understood how the tribe had fallen so much since Emperor Nuwa.