Cao Yun was staying at Jinyao's place. Of course, he wasn't spending entire days listening to the entire tribe. Since they had absolutely no way to stop his senses, he could have, but it didn't really feel right or enticing. Indeed, he didn't really like hearing everyone's private lives. However, he was very interested in the Dao of Fire. Thankfully, he didn't even need to leave the residence of Jinyao to learn more about it. His two daughters, Jinyue and Jinyang, were staying with him and acting as his servants while their father was away hunting.
Both girls were quite young, but they were also above average when it came to their mastery of fire. They weren't geniuses at all, and other kids their age were much better. However, they had a tremendous advantage: they were listening to Cao Yun. After he saved their lives and brought them back, even Jinyue was much more open to Cao Yun, even docile, one might say. They were almost treating him like their own senior. Moreover, their own father was treating him with respect, so it felt proper. Thanks to that, Cao Yun was able to ask them many questions about their Dao of Fire.
Unfortunately, they could barely answer anything he asked them. Jinyang was simply confused and lost, she didn't even understand the question. On the other hand, Jinyue was able to mostly get what he was hinting at, but she couldn't explain it either. Both sisters tried their best, but Cao Yun realized that it was useless. Instead of asking sterile questions, he simply asked them to perform their daily routines and exercises around fire. In the end, he almost asked them to show him everything they could do with fire.
Jinyang was much better at manipulating her fire, but it was also a bit chaotic. Her sister had much stronger fire, but Cao Yun could tell that she was too academic. In a sense, Jinyue had already been formatted by some rules, like Cao Yun, while Jinyang was more raw in her expression. Ironically, Jinyang's better manipulation probably stemmed from her inability to properly understand what anyone tried to teach her. Although it was a bit amusing, Cao Yun found it very revealing. Relying on someone else's understanding of the Dao, any Dao, was a crutch, but it shouldn't be used too much, as it would atrophy one's muscles. Using Red Calm's methods was a good introduction, but Cao Yun had to accept that there was no perfect method. In fact, there was no method at all.
Cao Yun's mind had been formatted by his decades of learning martial arts and cultivating. He liked to have proper realms, grades, and ranks. Everything was categorized and classified. It was reassuring as he knew exactly where he was going. While learning the Dao, he had to accept that he would jump into the unknown. Of course, such a jump had to be prepared. But, at some point, he had to let go and actually jump. Honestly, he wasn't sure he was at that point yet. Besides, thinking more about it, it wasn't different from martial arts. Learning the form was good, but it had to be abandoned in actual battles because battles were chaotic and unpredictable. Nature was chaotic and unpredictable. The Dao, and any Dao within, could never be brought down to a simple classification easy to follow and understand.
Now that Cao Yun had made his peace with this idea, he felt freedom, but also a faint but deep-rooted terror. This very terror was extremely strange as it was mixed with excitement and didn't feel bad at all.
Anyway, Cao Yun decided to also show his own mastery of the Dao of Fire. From 'Red Calm on a Sunny Day', he had mastered Fire Silk and was very advanced with Tyrannical Flame. Cao Yun had literally pushed Fire Silk to perfection. As such, he could produce a thin line that was a hundred li long. Even the girls were impressed. It was more or less useless in any actual application, but it proved that he had great control.
As soon as Jinyang saw this, she tried. Almost immediately, she was able to produce such a fire line. Thankfully for Cao Yun's pride, it broke apart. However, it broke apart shy of reaching nine li. In other words, for her very first time trying Fire Silk, Jinyang had almost reached true success. This was still a wound in Cao Yun's pride. After Jinyang, Jinyue tried it too and reached twelve li. Having found something where she could best her sister, Jinyue was quite happy. She immediately hid her joy and acted as though it was easy. In front of her sister, Jinyue was playing it cool, but it wasn't subtle at all for Cao Yun. It really reminded him of his decades spent with his kids, even though they were very different from the twin sisters.
When it came to Tyrannical Flame, neither of the girls was able to rival Cao Yun's flame. In terms of sheer power of destruction, he was above them. However, he also realized that the difference wasn't as large as he had hoped. He was certain that some geniuses a bit older than them could create more impressive flames. Thankfully, they lacked his Black Heart Flame. Confronting a Flameborn with only the Dao of Fire truly seemed like a bad idea. Of course, he wouldn't do so and had no reason to do so. Besides, he knew precisely how to deal with Flameborns as long as he remained in the Ancient Obsidian tribe.
Finally, the girls showed him a few exercises, even some exercises they were not doing themselves but that they had learned. Cao Yun wouldn't use all of them. One in particular truly inspired him. When it came to creating weapons from pure fire, they were using visualization exercises. This obviously reminded Cao Yun of alchemy. He was used to visualizing alchemy refinement processes, and even martial arts. The exercises given by the girls were more specific to the flames and pushed certain images. In particular, he had to imagine a violent and unruly star in his abdomen. It was lashing out and whipping him with tongues of fire. He had to imagine that he was able to grab such a tongue of fire, that he could rip it away from the star and then shape it just as the star was able to shape the fire into a ball.
Performing this kind of exercise, Cao Yun could tell that the Dao of Fire wasn't the only thing involved in the process, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what else was being used. It felt very familiar, though.
Of course, he went through all the exercises proposed to him and was very glad of his stay in the Ancient Obsidian tribe. He enjoyed Jinyao's household and the presence of the twin sisters. More and more, he was beginning to consider them his granddaughters, or maybe more like distant relatives he really liked. Through them, he also met a few young people who visited them. Thanks to that, he started to like the Ancient Obsidian tribe more and more. While he had no good impression of their leaders at all, he appreciated the younger generation. Still, all the young people were convinced that he wasn't very powerful. They accepted that he was stronger than them, but were certain that their own parents could take him. That Jin'ao was simply a weakling who relied solely on his father to oppress others. At least, that was their mistaken vision of the events that had transpired. Only Jinyue and Jinyang truly knew the terror of Cao Yun's strength. The human liked it this way.
-
Out of the blue, two guards walked up to the Jinyao residence and demanded to see Cao Yun. Jinyao was away, and Jinyue answered the two guards. The two of them were quite arrogant and domineering, but they still respected the residence. After all, Jinyao had saved the tribe from famine recently, and they knew that many hunters, if not all, liked him a lot. Still, in front of a young girl, they couldn't stop themselves from being arrogant despite their trying not to be.
"Huilu demands the presence of the stranger. Fetch him for us this instant, young lady."
"I will transmit your demand to our esteemed guest, Senior Cao Yun. Please, wait outside my father's residence."
Jinyue ingeniously hid her real feelings. She acted meek and docile, but she didn't bend. Both guards knew that they wouldn't dare to force their way into Jinyao's residence, especially when his two girls were present. If other hunters saw them push two little girls out of the way to break into their comrade's residence, it would look extremely bad. The tribe was small enough that everyone knew everyone. Unless Huilu directly gave them this authority, they wouldn't do that.
Jinyue walked away slowly to show that she was calm. As soon as she was away from the guards' sight, she rushed toward Cao Yun and Jinyang.
"Huilu wants to see you, Senior. The guards seem severe, I don't know what Huilu wants, but I'm worried."
"Our father keeps saying that Huilu would sell his own sparks to Rong Shan if he could save his ashes."
Despite his imperfect mastery of the language, Cao Yun could detect the insults. It meant that Huilu would sell his kids to save his hide. Honestly, Cao Yun was almost certain that Jinyao was right. He didn't sense any malice from Huilu, but he was ready to sacrifice too much to save the whole tribe. That being said, Cao Yun was mostly convinced that Huilu would also be ready to sacrifice himself as well. At least, Cao Yun didn't get the impression that he was particularly trying to save himself, but he didn't know him that much either. Deep down, Cao Yun hoped he was right, because he didn't hate this tribe.
For an instant, Cao Yun hesitated. The girls thought that he was afraid. As a matter of fact, they were right about that. But they were completely wrong about what Cao Yun's fear was. He was afraid he would have to fight the entire tribe because he didn't want to slaughter anyone. Even killing a few guards would be devastating to this small tribe. In fact, killing anyone might bring this entire tribe down at this point. It truly was weak. Without the presence of the Fire Thearch that prevented the Raging Volcano tribe from waging war without due cause, the Ancient Obsidian tribe would have ceased to exist. Maybe the old presence Cao Yun had felt could help them, but it felt much too old, despite the fact that it was more powerful than anyone else. To this day, Cao Yun had not felt that man move at all.
Cao Yun stood up and reassured the two girls.
"If Huilu wants to see me, I have no reason to refuse. Your Ancient Obsidian tribe has been very welcoming. I am sure that your leaders won't fail in their hospitality. I am an official guest of your tribe, after all."
Jinyang was just worried, but Jinyue detected a hint of menace in Cao Yun's tone. She started to be worried for other reasons. Indeed, any fear she thought she had sensed was gone from Cao Yun's complexion.
The human walked outside and went directly toward the guards. He almost saw them sneer. In their eyes, he truly was nothing. They could easily subdue him if he was unruly. Now that he had shown himself, they would absolutely bring him to Huilu, willing or not. Ironically, Cao Yun had a similar impression. He could snap their necks in an instant. To be honest, Cao Yun wasn't completely sure what kind of injury could kill a Flameborn effectively. However, crushing Jin'ao's neck had been very effective and almost painless, so he knew where to start.
"Huilu demanded your presence. Come!"
None of the guards treated him with any respect. Cao Yun let it slide completely. In fact, he indicated to Jinyue and Jinyang to stay silent. He didn't want to make a scene here. At least, he wanted to know what was going on. As such, he began to spread his senses around while walking with the guards. Very soon, he understood everything. Huilu was indeed ready to sell almost everyone to Rong Shan, and it was Cao Yun's turn. Seeing that Huichi and Huishou were upset smoothed Cao Yun's opinion of the trio. Unfortunately, he was certain that Huichi simply didn't want to look weak while Huishou was just adhering to the rules of hospitality. As long as Cao Yun was a guest, he had to be treated like a member of their tribe when dealing with outsiders. Unless Cao Yun did something that warranted his rejection as a guest, they had to adhere to those rules, or they would lose face.
To be fair, the leaders of the tribe barely knew Cao Yun. However, he had saved two of theirs. But again, he had also brought trouble on them by killing Jin'ao. Anyway, Cao Yun would first see how it played out. One thing was certain, no one would force him to do anything, especially not in the Ancient Obsidian tribe. If he had to teach both the Raging Volcano tribe and the Ancient Obsidian tribe a lesson, he would gladly do so.
At last, the guards brought Cao Yun to the temple where the three leaders were talking with Rong Shan's messenger. As soon as he saw Cao Yun, the messenger seemed insulted.
"Is this a...?! Excuse me. Noble Huilu, you told me that you would bring Jin'ao's murderer. This weakling could never..."
As he spoke, the messenger remembered the testimony of the other tribesmen who had seen Cao Yun. Honestly, when they had described Cao Yun, he had not believed them at all. Apparently, they were right. His fire was as weak as a child. With the testimonies in mind, the messenger still remained wary. Maybe he had some secret technique, weapon, or artifact. Most likely, he had used a ruse to deal with Jin'ao. Such a trickster couldn't be underestimated. That was how he got his prey. In a fight, they had to slay him right away with all their strength. Jin'ao had been too arrogant.
"Please, excuse my outburst. I was just surprised by this..."
"Cao Yun!"
Since everyone was speaking as if he weren't there, Cao Yun said his name himself with a powerful voice.