The caravan stopped outside the gates embedded into the stone wall that surrounded Burning Clouds city, Yang Anju getting off the caravan and talking to the guards outside the gate. He handed them the papers that declared what he was bringing along and the guards only gave the wagons a quick check, practically only opening and closing the doors to them.

Once everything was proven to be in order, the stone gates opened and allowed the caravan to enter Burning Clouds city. Despite the rough exterior, the city actually looked far cozier than Huang Ying expected. The houses were mostly made from dark wood and came in a large variety of styles, but almost all the houses had orange or crimson paper lanterns hanging from the side of the roof, casting a pleasantly soft light onto the surroundings. The streets were paved with finger-sized rocks stacked closely together, making it a comfortable journey no matter what method of transportation you chose.

If Huang Ying had to mention what set this city apart from the others he had been in, the first thing would be that the main road didn't lead to the city center but rather headed slightly westward and stopped right in front of the Fierce Flame academy. Only after stopping in front of the academy did the road curve eastward and head to the city center, which was currently blocked by houses and other buildings so Huang Ying couldn't actually see it from his position at the gate.

The second thing that was different was the animals he saw walking around. In the two previous cities, it wasn't strange to see cats, dogs, even goats, and chickens walking around as pets. But here, just as he entered the gates to the city, he already saw seven different small Demonic beast pets. None of them had gotten stronger than the 3rd Step of Mortality, but it was still amazing to see so many Demonic beast pets right away.

The stone gates shut once the caravan passed through them, the wagons stopping once the gates shut. The streets were so wide that three wagons could stand side by side and there would still be enough space for someone to move past them, but avoid being too much of a nuisance the wagons only stood two by two. Yang Anju stood next to the wagons and called out the plans for the day, drawing the attention of everyone on the wagons.

"Alright you lot, we've reached Burning Clouds! We'll take two days of rest to settle the affairs of the deceased and to pick up some new guards, those who are going to stick along with us until we reach Lake's Embrace can come and talk to me, I'll set you up with housing until we leave."

Huang Ying didn't have anything to pack, but he took the scaled gloves out of their box and placed them in the same box as the folded up spear, slinging that bag over his shoulder and leaving his wagon. He took a deep breath and swept his gaze around the area, a faint sparkle present in his eyes. This city was the largest one he had ever been in, it seemed to go on for as far as the eyes could see, people busily making their way through the streets and occasionally stopping in front of one of the countless vendors peddling their wares at the side of the streets. While Huang Ying was marveling at the sights around him and ignoring the exasperated sigh of Li Jun, a voice called out to him.

"The name was Huang Ying, wasn't it?"

Huang Ying turned around and saw that the person calling out to him was the orange-haired and brown-eyed Lixi that earlier helped him test out various weapons. She stopped in front of him and smiled seductively at him, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb.

"I'll be spending the next two days in that inn over there, want to join me for some fun until I leave?"

Lixi was a caravan guard, which was about the same as a mercenary, they even had the same life expectancy. As such, Lixi had long ago embraced the ideology that you should just enjoy life and do what you wanted with who you wanted. Huang Ying looked a bit younger than her usual tastes, but he was handsome and had shown a strength that you wouldn't expect from him, he was also rather pleasant and fun to be with, so Lixi wouldn't mind spending some nights with him.

Huang Ying was actually only ten years old right now, but his special circumstances made it impossible to know that. His mind was far more mature than most ten-year-olds and his body had changed drastically after being rebuilt, he could easily pass for a 16 or 17-year-old youth. Lixi's words elicited a lewd chuckled from Li Jun, but Huang Ying politely shook his head and rejected her.

"Gehehe, you should go with her, not often you get an invitation for a bit of fun like this."
"Sorry, but I'm heading to Fierce Flame academy and right now I can't afford to lose any cultivation time."

Huang Ying's words were nothing but a lie, but he couldn't exactly tell her the truth. He'd seen the very depths of depravity thanks to all the memories he'd devoured, and what he saw sickened him to his stomach. It didn't matter that seeing the memories was like reading it in a book, just the sheer number and sight of them was enough to sicken Huang Ying. So right now, he was almost instinctively repulsed by the thought of engaging in sexual acts with someone else. Lixi was a bit disappointed, but she knew when to not push her luck, shrugging her shoulders.

"Alright, you'll know where to find me if you change your mind. You can also find me in Wind's Touch in the future if you should decide that you're up for some casual fun. Oh right, you should also know that the Fierce Flame academy only accepts new students once every month, so you'll still have to wait four days before you can actually join them."

Lixi had been to the city quite a few times already, and she had been here far more recently than Li Jun, so she knew more about the acceptance procedure of the Fierce Flame academy. She didn't linger around after reminding Huang Ying, turning around and walking away, giving one of the other guards a heavy pat on the back while chatting him up.

Huang Ying locked eyes with Yang Anju, both of them exchanging a quick and silent salute before Huang Ying turned around and followed the road to Fierce Flame academy. The entire academy was like a small city within the city, a wrought iron fence covered in small red markings surrounding the entire plot of land, which was filled with both houses, small forests, and even a few lakes.

And those were just the areas that Huang Ying could see, there were even more areas further back that were covered up by the main building, a rectangular five-story tall mansion from which the pillar that served as the symbol of the academy grew from. Huang Ying was stopped by two seemingly 20-year-old guards when he reached the gates of the academy, both of them confirming that what Lixi said was indeed correct, he would have to wait four days before the entrance tests would start. Huang Ying didn't even get the chance to wonder what he should do next before the voice of Li Jun rang out within his mind.

"If you don't know what to do then you should go and cultivate quietly. You shouldn't be far from reaching the 2nd Mortal Step I'll also be teaching you a technique to mask your actual cultivation, you should enter the academy under the guise that you've reached the 6th Mortal Step, otherwise you won't be able to use your elements. oh, right, Mortal Step is a short way of saying Step of Mortality, you'll find most places that are worth a damn use this abbreviation, it's usually a bad idea to trust those who don't."

Huang Ying trusted Li Jun's words and decided to heed them, but he still rolled his eyes and complained that Li Jun should have told him earlier if it was this damn important. Huang Ying didn't have to go far before he found an inn, they were practically littering the streets around the academy. He bought himself a cheap room that came with meals included in the price and then headed up the stairs to his room. The room only contained a bed, a window, a dresser, and a table surrounded by two chairs. It was very bare-bones, but it would be enough for Huang Ying , who was only planning on cultivating and eating.

Huang Ying placed down the box containing his weapons and sat down on the bed, which was surprisingly soft for the price he paid to stay here, only five copper pieces for two nights. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes, following Li Jun's directions as he first practiced the technique to hide his cultivation.

"This is a technique I personally came up with when I was at my peak, only an actual god or someone with an incredibly powerful eye-bloodline will be able to see through it. Focus all the energy moving through your body on these veins and then guide it under these directions."

The information on which veins he had to focus on and how to move the Qi popped up in Huang Ying's mind after Li Jun finished talking, Huang Ying quickly following the directions. The energy in his body slowly started to move, following the set paths deeper into his body and surrounding his dantian, creating a shell that he could control at will. Once the shell was complete and Huang Ying could control it as he pleased, the somewhat pouty mutter of Li Jun echoed out in his mind.

"Really, that's just unfair. It took me four years to perfect this technique and now it only takes you one day to learn it. That just makes me mad, makes me feel like I did all that work just for you."

Huang Ying rolled his eyes and didn't bother dignifying Li Jun's pouting with a response. The technique was actually rather simple and neat, only the exact veins and how to control the Qi being the complicated parts. But with the creator of the technique guiding him, how could it take Huang Ying more than a day to learn it? The basis of the technique was to adjust how much energy your body and dantian seemed to give off, allowing you to change what cultivation level you looked to be at on the fly.

After learning the technique and setting it to the appropriate level, Huang Ying took a deep breath and focused on his cultivation. Several tens of crimson eyes and open maws appeared in his shadow, drifting around as they rapidly sucked in all the surrounding Qi to multiply Huang Ying's cultivation speed by several magnitudes.

Huang Ying's devouring element couldn't just devour other people and their skills or memories, even Qi and the like could be devoured and be used. If he wanted to, he could even devour wood, stone, wind, fire, water, earth, everything could be devoured if he chose to.

But different things served different purposes when devoured. Devouring living beings would strengthen his body, soul, and Qi. Devouring Qi would allow him to absorb it at a rate far faster than normal, it would also send it through his entire body to drastically increase the speed at which his body got accustomed to it. Devouring wood and the like was a bit more special, as they would only serve a purpose if he could already control that element. If he devoured wood right now it would do nothing, but if he devoured some earth he could use it to ever so slightly strengthen his already existing earth element.

The only problem was, the stronger he wanted to make his earth or wind elements, the more wind and earth he would have to devour, he would also eventually have to devour stronger types of wind and earth, which were things he wasn't even sure existed on this part of the continent.

The ashen island in Huang Ying's dantian slowly grew larger as he devoured more and more Qi. He had heard that some people would feel pain in their bodies, especially their bones, muscles, and veins, upon absorbing Qi while working on getting their bodies accustomed to it, but Huang Ying felt none of that. It was likely a result of his body being rebuilt like it was so Huang Ying didn't bother too much with it.

The hours quickly passed, the ashen island and the small mound of earth growing larger while the wind grew stronger. Once he reached the evening of the third day, only about half a day before the Fierce Flame academy started it's entrance tests, he finally reached the 2nd Mortal Step.

His ashen island had doubled in size to become one kilometer wide and long, and the mound of earth had also doubled in size, becoming two meters tall. The wind had also grown stronger, but the lake at the center of the island still remained 200 meters wide and still only contained a few drops of milky white liquid. Huang Ying knew that next time his island doubled in size he would reach the 3rd Mortal Step, and another doubling after that would mean that he'd reached the 4th Mortal Step, each new step after that requiring another doubling in size.

But for now, Huang Ying was happy just reaching the 2nd Mortal Step, opening his eyes and hopping down from the bed, stretching his body for a bit before picking up the case containing his weapons.

"Alright then, let's see what sort of fun things we can find in that academy."