Cao Yun traveled with the twin sisters for a few days. Although Jinyue was clearly wary of Cao Yun, she seemed to have blind faith in Hongyu. As a consequence, she also started to trust Cao Yun since Hongyu treated him like a brother and he treated her like a sister.
There was little doubt in Cao Yun's mind that the two girls were affected by Hongyu's origins. Hongyu was very intimate with the Dao of Fire, even though she didn't understand it at any level beyond pure instinct. Thus, it wasn't surprising that Flameborns, who were born of the Dao of Fire, felt intimate with a Crimson Annihilation Fenghuang.
On the way, they had to face a few fire beasts. Hongyu never even fought as Cao Yun quickly got rid of all of them, by scaring them away when killing them wasn't necessary. After all, Cao Yun had no reason to kill them if they were no threat to him or the girls. Honestly, he also didn't want to show all of his strength to the girls. While Jinyue was clearly observing him, he was observing them both.
While they traveled, Dian Mo helped Cao Yun go through Jin'ao's memories. At the same time, Cao Yun and Jinyang talked a lot. The young girl was happy to work on her Primitive Nuhua. In a sense, she seemed to like showing off to Jinyue that her dedication to her studies had paid off. Of course, she helped Cao Yun in return. Day by day, his understanding of their language deepened. Thanks to her, his pronunciation was also very good, while he corrected hers. Unfortunately for Jinyang, Cao Yun progressed much faster than Jinyang ever could. In a matter of days, he had learned enough to have simple conversations.
Others might have been discouraged by seeing how slow they were in comparison. But Jinyang had a completely different outlook on the situation that truly amused Cao Yun. Jinyang boasted that she was the best teacher in the world. Jinyue could tell that this wasn't the case at all, but she had to admit that Cao Yun's progress was unheard of. In fact, she remembered that when she had tried to learn Primitive Nuhua, it had been a nightmare. Worse than that, even learning some dialects of other tribes had been too difficult for her despite the vast similarities. As a result, Jinyue was frustrated but didn't let it show. That being said, both Cao Yun and Jinyang could tell that she was frustrated, because she hid it very poorly.
Another topic of conversation was the Dao of Fire. Cao Yun tried not to talk about the situation of their tribe, as he didn't want to make them more suspicious of him. Besides, he didn't want to put them in a difficult position if they revealed anything important by mistake. So he talked about the Broken Fire World itself, about mundane things related to their everyday life. But he also talked about the Dao of Fire. He wasn't too surprised to realize that the girls didn't seem to know much. Just like Hongyu, their understanding was mostly instinctive. After all, they hadn't really started to cultivate it. It was like asking a kid how his muscles formed. An adult who had spent years working on his body might give good insights, but not a kid or someone who had never trained their muscles once in their life.
A few times, Jinyang asked about Cao Yun's origins, but he stayed evasive. He didn't want to reveal much. Of course, this displeased Jinyue. By the end, Jinyue seemed to talk to Cao Yun more than her sister. After all, Cao Yun could understand almost everything she said, and he could answer her. However, she didn't like his answers as he seemed to hide behind his pure mastery of her language to conceal crucial information. Both sisters had ideas about Cao Yun's origins, but they were quite different. That being said, a similar name appeared in both their minds. None of them dared to say it out loud, as it would be disrespectful.
Finally, they arrived where the Ancient Obsidian tribe was.
The twin sisters had not lied. The tribe was small and appeared extremely poor. Their buildings were made of black stones that shone with every single spark around them. Here and there were white trees giving off light, making the tribe appear in daylight. Bones were also used as ornaments on several buildings, with ashes used for paint. Cao Yun recognized a few characters here and there. The architecture was very rudimentary. The people were dressed in plain clothes, some were even in rags, as far as Cao Yun was concerned.
In front of the bone gates, which Cao Yun could crush in an instant, were only two guards. They were around forty years old and appeared significantly stronger than Jin'ao. However, that didn't mean that they were very strong. In fact, Cao Yun easily spread his senses and even spiritual senses all over the tribe without anyone noticing him at all. Those two guards were among the strongest warriors of the entire tribe.
Thankfully, Cao Yun had also detected five tribesmen who were much stronger, probably on Rong Shan's level. The five of them were in the central building. From the bone sculptures and the characters, Cao Yun was convinced that it was either a political or religious place. As it turned out, it was both. This was the Ancient Obsidian Temple. Each tribe had such a temple where every major decision was made, but also where every religious ceremony was held. Most tribes had a shaman and a chieftain. Only a few tribes had a chieftain as shaman, or a shaman as chieftain.
Cao Yun didn't conceal his presence and walked toward the gates with Jinyue and Jinyang, on Hongyu's back. Obviously, the large Crimson Annihilation Fenghuang surprised the guards, who prepared their weapons. They yelled both for reinforcements and for Hongyu to stop. Hongyu obeyed Cao Yun, who asked her to stop.
Behind the guards, a dozen warriors took out bows and got their arrows ready. Clearly, they were all shaking in fear but were brave enough to conceal it very well. The two guards in front of the gates knew they didn't stand a chance, but Cao Yun could tell that they were ready to sacrifice their lives to protect their tribe. Although the Ancient Obsidian tribe appeared weak and destitute, there was still valor in it. Cao Yun was pleased. Maybe there was hope for this tribe yet.
Cao Yun asked Jinyue and Jinyang to climb down from Hongyu. As soon as the guards saw the twin sisters, their attitude changed. They were still ready to fight, but Cao Yun felt their relief as he didn't appear to be aggressive. One of the guards said something to the other warriors behind him. Cao Yun could hear every word as if they had been shouted at him despite the low whisper of the guard.
"Tell Jinyao that his daughters are back, safe and sound. But there's no sign of Xuanhui. Warn Huichi that a stranger and a beast are at the gates with them too. The stranger doesn't have any tribe emblem on him. I'm not even sure he's one of our kind..."
Cao Yun didn't fully understand every single word, but enough to fill in the gaps. He knew about Jinyao. The twin sisters had already told him that their mother had died a couple of years ago from some disease. Only their father was left in their family. Jinyao was a simple man, a hunter for the tribe. He wasn't particularly strong or powerful, but he was good at his occupation, and the tribe liked him. Although the sisters weren't essential to the tribe, they had obviously been missed.
The two girls walked away from Hongyu, but Cao Yun didn't follow yet. Immediately, Jinyang stopped and asked him to come with them.
"Senior, don't be afraid, come, come."
"Idiot, he's waiting for us to tell the guards who he is and what happened. Do you want our guards to attack him?"
"No! Senior, don't be afraid, I'll tell them that you're no threat at all. They'll welcome you with open arms for saving our lives."
Jinyue wanted to tell her sister that Cao Yun was definitely a threat. Actually, Jinyue was afraid of Cao Yun attacking the tribe in retaliation. She wasn't sure that anyone in the tribe would survive his fury if they decided to antagonize him.
Suddenly, a man came running out of a building. He got to the gates as fast as a leopard. With no hesitation at all, he didn't wait for the gate to open and simply climbed over the gate and jumped down. The guards weren't pleased, but they couldn't tell him anything. For a few days, they had seen his pain when his daughters had not come back. He had sent them out with Xuanhui, a young hunter who was very promising. Jinyao had been training him, and this was only the third time he had let the trio go out on their own. When they had not come back in time, he had been so worried that he had tried to go out alone. However, the tribe had stopped him and convinced him to wait for an actual party to be formed, which took too long because of the tensions with the Raging Volcano tribe.
Indeed, the disappearance of the twin sisters had caused some turmoil. The tribe was divided between those who thought they had been killed and those who thought they had survived. There were also political tensions as some accused the Raging Volcano tribe and were calling for retaliation while others wanted to preserve peace no matter what. Jinyao had barely taken part in those debates as he simply talked with other hunters to prepare his own search party. As a matter of fact, he was ready to go out this very day.
Jinyao didn't care about the guards, he didn't care about Cao Yun or Hongyu. He only saw his daughters and ran faster than ever in his life. Like a leopard, he quite literally jumped toward his kids and hugged them. He was so fast that they all fell backward. Jinyao wasn't holding back his tears as he hugged his daughters. He didn't care that everyone was seeing him.
Watching the scene, Cao Yun was moved as he thought about his own children.
Finally, the gates opened, and four middle-aged men appeared. They were all strong warriors. In fact, they were among the five powerful warriors Cao Yun had felt. Only one was missing, even stronger than all four of them, but also older. As Cao Yun pushed his senses, he found out that this old man was probably as old as himself and was living in seclusion. Honestly, Cao Yun wasn't too sure about the longevity of Flameborns since they couldn't cultivate like humans and their prenatal Jing was, in fact, their life fire.
Cao Yun focused on the four men without letting it show. They were talking among themselves, whispering, but Cao Yun could hear everything. Even now, they were talking about the Raging Volcano tribe and whether they were behind it. They even wondered if Cao Yun was a mercenary or a spy, maybe a demon hired by the Raging Volcano tribe. Despite his hatred for the rival tribe, one of the men said that even they wouldn't stoop so low as to hire a demon. Demons were obviously hated and despised by the Flameborns, considering that Demon God Da Mo had tried to conquer their Broken Fire World.
Finally, Jinyao stood up and listened to his daughters telling him that Cao Yun had saved their lives. Without thinking twice, Jinyao walked up to Cao Yun and knelt in front of him.
"Thank you, Senior. By saving my daughters, you've earned my heat."
Cao Yun wasn't sure about his translation, but he was certain that the man had sworn loyalty, or maybe even his very life, to Cao Yun. Thus, Cao Yun helped him up and talked as best as he could.
"I was just passing by. I'm glad that your daughters got back to their father."
"Come in, Senior. Don't stay outside like a beggar."
Without waiting for any official order, Jinyao simply guided Cao Yun toward the gate, and Cao Yun decided to follow. Once he saw that the guards were lowering their weapons, he had no hesitation at all. Most likely, he could indeed destroy the tribe if things went bad. However, he didn't want to do so. Besides, he honestly wasn't sure how powerful the five strongest warriors were. At the same time, he couldn't detect any array formation and wondered if there were other forms of defense he wasn't aware of. Considering that the Flameborns manipulated the Dao of Fire, it was more than likely that they had traps he was unaware of.
The four men at the gate looked at Cao Yun. In their eyes, he appeared quite weak. Even the guards didn't think Cao Yun was a threat at all. His fire was as weak as a child's. However, the large bird behind him was quite peculiar, and her flames were strange. They couldn't fully see through them. Hongyu appeared mysterious and powerful, but also familiar and friendly. Her very presence lowered the animosity of the tribe toward a stranger like Cao Yun.
Cao Yun finally arrived at the four men. Three of them looked alike, as they were most likely brothers. The larger one was a burly man with thinning hair, mostly at the sides of his head, and a short mustache that drooped on either side of his mouth. The taller one appeared to be a scholar with no hair at all, either on his head or on his face. He didn't seem to have fought once in his life. But his appearance was misleading. Finally, the shorter one had no hair but a very large beard and a large scar that had almost destroyed his left eye.
Cao Yun could tell that they were the leaders of this tribe. And the fourth man was covered in ashes of various colors and wearing a robe with many characters on it. This man was the shaman of the tribe. Even without his appearance, he was very easy to recognize thanks to his scepter made of bones. He was slightly weaker than the three other men, but there was a mysterious aura around him. Unlike the other three, he looked at Cao Yun with a little bit of fear, as if he could see through his strength, or rather, as if he couldn't, and it scared him.