The hunt at the Weeping Summits was about to begin. That was a major event for the local tribes. Every decade or so, the Weeping Summits would become the hunting grounds for all Flameborns. Many large tribes even sent hunters there because it was a perfect opportunity. As such, all the local tribes were able to barter with them, form connections, and hopefully earn a lot of wealth. Young Flameborns from local tribes were always trying to impress nobles from powerful tribes. Of course, the Weeping Summits wasn't the best hunting ground in the Broken Fire World, and only minor characters from those powerful tribes were sent there.
Moreover, the Pillar of the End of the World would soon open. The large tribes were busy with that, and their best warriors and hunters were already preparing. That being said, other tribesmen could go to the Weeping Summits because they knew that they probably wouldn't get a spot at the Pillar of the End of the World. Still, everyone hoped to make a name for themselves in the hunt.
Cao Yun arrived with Hongyu and the trio from the Ancient Obsidian tribe. Before them was a vast blackness. It was a depression, like an immense valley. Everything was completely covered in an opaque smog. Even Cao Yun's senses couldn't make anything out of it. Honestly, even Cao Yun wasn't sure he could safely enter the smog. There was something absolutely ominous about this black fog. Although he couldn't sense what it was, it reminded him of the Dao of Death. Thinking about everything he knew about this domain from Emperor Nuwa's journals, Cao Yun had a vague idea of what this could be. If he was right, this might be very interesting to study. However, he had absolutely no idea how to even begin to do it.
From everything he had heard, anyone who entered the black smog simply disappeared for good. Nothing had ever been found of them. The worst part was that this also applied to demons. According to Emperor Nuwa, Demon God Da Mo had once sent forces inside the black smog, and they had all ceased to exist. When the smog dissipated, there was absolutely nothing left of them, not even their possessions. As a matter of fact, Demon God Da Mo himself was terrorized by this black smog and never dared to enter it. Thus, Cao Yun wouldn't take his chances. That being said, he had another idea. Unfortunately, his mastery over the Dao of Death wasn't good enough yet, but he suspected that he might have found a way to study the smog. Of course, he had no way of knowing if it would actually work and wouldn't risk it for now.
No one really knew why, but every decade or so, the Weeping Summits would suddenly be rid of all this black smog. There were a few other places like this in the Broken Fire World, but this was the largest of them all. Honestly, it reminded Cao Yun of tides. Since he couldn't actually see anything in the sky apart from the black smoke, it wasn't impossible that there were moons or celestial objects influencing the tides. Since the interval wasn't exactly ten years, people were always trying to predict it. As such, the edge of the Weeping Summits was already packed with people.
Here and there, a few demons had set up camp farther from the Weeping Summits and the Flameborns. They didn't want to be near the Flameborns because they knew that the tribes hated them and would gladly kill them. The main reason why they were alive was that the hunt at the Weeping Summits was a tradition. It wouldn't be well received if anyone were killed at the edge of the Weeping Summits. However, most Flameborns would have no qualms killing the demons once inside the Weeping Summits.
Cao Yun studied the demons. They were clearly from different tribes and clans, but they were teaming up to survive the Flameborns. In total, there were around a hundred demons who had dared to come here. They were late Golden Blood Children, Accomplished Demons, and a handful of Exalted Demons. In fact, the strongest demons were a couple. They were both 6th-grade Exalted Demons, slightly stronger than Cao Yun. On the Piaolu planet, those demons could have crushed absolutely everything and everyone. In a matter of weeks, if not days, they could subjugate the entire Hongchen Kingdom along with the demon kingdoms. That being said, Cao Yun could sense that their foundations were shaky. Their Demon Souls were very stable, just good enough to advance their cultivation. Besides, he could also sense that they were all quite old. Most likely, the couple had been able to progress this far thanks to dual cultivation. It made sense. They had been able to stabilize their Demon Souls through this dual cultivation.
Seeing that the couple was very intimate with one another, Cao Yun didn't pry any further. The cultivation of those demons was good but not exceptional. Most likely, they were the strongest demons in the entire Broken Fire World. It wasn't a surprise that the Flameborns could suppress all the demons while still not wanting to actually wage war against them. They were powerful enough to be a problem without being a direct threat to any large tribe.
As Cao Yun observed them, the demons also observed him and Hongyu. He didn't mind them at all. Indeed, he was concealing his cultivation from them completely. They could tell that he was powerful but nothing more than that. In fact, they couldn't even tell if he was a human, a demon, or a Flameborn. That being said, they had heard rumors about Cao Yun and the Ancient Obsidian tribe. Everyone had, unfortunately.
When they saw Cao Yun and the Ancient Obsidian tribesmen, the Flameborns clearly became hostile. There were hundreds of Flameborns, if not thousands of them. Seeing the man who had swallowed the flames of their kin filled them with indignation and rage. Cao Yun could sense a lot of killing intent, but no fear at all. Everyone saw him as easy pickings. After all, they were convinced that he had been able to kill Chieftain Rong Shan and the Raging Volcano tribe experts only thanks to the Sun-Severing Spear. Here, it wouldn't work as well. In fact, it probably wouldn't work at all because it was heavily damaged. Honestly, Cao Yun himself wasn't sure whether it would work or not. But he didn't care at all.
In her journals, Emperor Nuwa talked about the Weeping Summits and what had been found there. Although the place might have changed a little since then, Cao Yun was convinced that it wouldn't be anything massive. Thus, he was very confident in himself here. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken Yanzhen, Jinyang, and Jinyue with him.
Yanzhen was trying to shield the twins from the killing intent that they could feel. Hongyu's warmth helped them a lot. Slowly, the killing intent diminished as no one was ready to break tradition and actually attack.
Imitating the demons, Cao Yun's group set up camp farther from the Flameborns. They would wait for the Weeping Summits to open. In particular, Cao Yun set up an array formation using an array formation plate. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for everyone present. The only ones who might have had the knowledge to break it were the demons, and they were staying far away. They wouldn't want to cause a commotion amid the Flameborns.
Within the array formation, Cao Yun could meditate and cultivate in peace without anyone sensing anything. Of course, he also had the three Flameborns cultivate using his method and the blood they had retrieved from the Incandescent Rat Tiger. Cao Yun was curious to see how much it would increase their cultivation rate.
-
After almost two weeks, a large commotion arose. Even in his array formation, Cao Yun heard the noise as all the Flameborns were excited. In the distance, there was a massive elephant. It was completely black, as if covered in soot. On its forehead, there was a large symbol drawn with white ashes. Clearly, this was the symbol of the tribe it belonged to. Even without studying or seeing the symbol, everyone knew who it was. This was the Heavenly Smoke Mastodon tribe. The black elephant had obsidian tusks and two large ears.
On the back of this massive pachyderm, there was a palace. Of course, it was more like a large house, but it was still very impressive. In particular, it had several floors. Most likely, around thirty to fifty people could live in this palace. It was absolutely magnificent. On two towers, Flameborns were keeping watch with bows ready to shoot down any threat.
What was truly unusual about the black elephant, though, was that he was actually flying. Indeed, the beast had two large wings made of burning soot. Such a sight was simply otherworldly. This elephant was flying thanks to its wings, not thanks to its cultivation or anything else. To be fair, there was probably something more to it, but it really looked like it was flying by flapping its giant wings, despite its own weight and the added weight of the palace on its back.
The Heavenly Smoke Mastodon was one of the four major tribes in the Broken Fire World. Obviously, it was the closest to the Weeping Summits. However, it wasn't strange to see them come for the hunt. Everyone was certainly amazed by this sight, though. Besides, this Heavenly Smoke Mastodon wasn't just any fire beast. The Heavenly Smoke Mastodon tribe was known for using those fire beasts as mounts and war beasts. This was precisely how they had gotten their name. Legends said that their progenitor had vanquished the king of all Heavenly Smoke Mastodons with his bare hands, thus subjugating their entire race for his descendants.
This Heavenly Smoke Mastodon was the personal mount of Xianglao, the young master of the Heavenly Smoke Mastodon tribe. He was royalty. At this moment, he should have been in his tribe getting ready for the Pillar of the End of the World. No one was expecting him to come in person. And yet, here he was. It was like meeting the Emperor in a street market. The Flameborns were speechless at first, but soon they started to chant and cheer for him.
The young genius appeared from a balcony of the palace. He had a young woman in each arm. Those women were absolutely gorgeous and very lightly clothed. Even the prince was lightly clothed. He had long blond hair with red streaks here and there. His face was quite pale, but his eyes were deep and red. His fluttering robe barely hid anything. Despite being very young, his muscles were very developed. Honestly, he looked like a statue. If he stopped breathing, most people would have a hard time telling whether he was alive or inanimate.
Xianglao was smiling at the crowd, but his smile was quite stiff. Everyone could see that he was towering over them all. However, they didn't mind because they all agreed that he was superior to them. Even among the four major tribes, he was known to be the greatest genius of the younger generation. Despite being jealous, every young Flameborn saw him as a great hero. Even Yanzhen admired and respected him. Xianglao was the future of the Flameborns. Although Yanzhen wanted to enter the Pillar of the End of the World, he knew that Xianglao would get much more than him there. And it was fine with him.
The demons felt defeated. With Xianglao present, they might retreat immediately. This Xianglao was particularly ruthless against demons. In fact, this was also why he was seen as a hero by all Flameborns. If the demons met him during the hunt, he would absolutely kill them without batting an eye, and there was nothing they could do against him but try to run and fail. The couple got tense. Even they weren't sure they could stand up to him, despite their cultivation. His mastery of the Dao of Fire was simply exceptional.
Only Cao Yun was quite neutral at the moment. He was examining the young man. Honestly, he didn't like his attitude, but he was a young genius. It was almost a given that he would be overbearing and arrogant. However, what truly disturbed Cao Yun was that Xianglao had clearly targeted him since the beginning. As soon as Cao Yun saw Xianglao, Xianglao saw him. The young man's senses were focused on the human, trying to pry his secrets. Cao Yun could feel it all, and Xianglao knew but didn't stop. Obviously, it was extremely impolite.
Considering Xianglao's attitude, Cao Yun wondered if he had come here especially for him. Most likely, it wasn't the case because no one had known that Cao Yun would come to the Weeping Summits, and two weeks were too short for Xianglao to be informed and to come here. He had left his Heavenly Smoke Mastodon tribe at least two months ago. There was something in the Weeping Summits that interested him. As a result, Cao Yun was intrigued too.
The Heavenly Smoke Mastodon landed. When it touched the ground, the ground shook. In fact, its foot dug into the solid ground, which cracked under its weight. Hongyu was looking at the gigantic fire beast. Honestly, she was scared. Although it was massive, she could tell that it wasn't slow and had a lot of endurance. Thankfully, she was still much faster. But she clearly couldn't contend with its physical strength. Still, the Heavenly Smoke Mastodon seemed peaceful and calm. Just like its master, though, it was arrogant and didn't consider anything or anyone at its level. Everything in existence could be trampled under its foot, so it didn't consider anything worthy of its attention.
Finally, Xianglao flew down from his balcony with the two beauties still in his arms. The trio seemed to live in their own world and didn't care about anyone else. Xianglao walked toward Cao Yun's camp. Everyone was shocked except Cao Yun. The two men stared at each other, and tension rose. Xianglao smiled as if mocking Cao Yun, and then he looked at the twins.