Large spires shot up into the sky like fingers rising from the earth. Below the towering spires was an impressive wall that stood at least 30 meters in the air. The buildings were made of a white chalk like stone, but unlike chalk it was incredibly strong, able to take impacts that would cause most stones to crumble.

Firedawn had a similar architectural style of most of the southlands, but all the buildings of firedawn were shingled with a crystal called firestone tile that gave off a reddish-orange hue when the sun hit them. It caused the city of Firedawn to look like it was ablaze.

The buildings themselves had a distinct architectural style that Ao Ruang was unfamiliar with since all the buildings he had grown up with were built with logs raised on stilts to keep pests and dirt from the forest from gaining easy access.

Within his and Yi Liling's view was a giant gate with the emblem of a dragon ablaze the last couple days on their journey Ao Ruang had discovered he could go roughly a day and some change before having to feed and he only needed 1 or 2 mouthfuls to get his fill. Though he noticed the red mass in his dantian would be significantly smaller he still gained incredible benefits from it.

In a mere three days he had gone from not even being in the Iron warrior realm to now being already to the third rank of the Iron warrior realm which should put him in line with his current generation...at least in his hometown. Though he noticed the amount of gain he got from drinking Yi Liling’s blood was becoming less and less.

There was still so much for Ao Ruang to learn and study.

Yi Liling had been a major help along the way filling him in on customs and some of the happenings of the world since he was from a place far isolated.

The continent was largely controlled by nine major powers and twelve minor powers. All controlled by mankind. The only presence the dark races had were in the small inhospitable areas of the world or areas largely unseen as of yet. One thing he was unaware of was the massive war that had taken place about three hundred years ago which had caused three minor powers to merge into one major power going up the rank. Since then that northerly empire had been rapidly expanding from the northwest into the untamed lands and some territories controlled by the other minor powers.

Besides that it mattered little to where we were located the kingdom he found himself in was at the southern tip of the continent and was situated between two other kingdoms and three empires who were not on good terms giving the kingdom leverage and the ability to stay tactfully neutral. The Kingdom of Sinten was controlled by the Sinten dynasty for the last five centuries and Firedawn was their northernmost city that lay just outside the shadows cast by the mountains Ao Ruang called home.

Yi Liling had the ability to cultivate, but as an orphan she never had the opportunity. Ao Ruang insisted that even if she is older the benefits to one's youth and health couldn't be ignored and told her to cultivate with him and instructed her on a very basic cultivation method from his village he used himself. Really it was just basic meditation and didn't have any special names for it.

Ao Ruang allowed Yi Liling to ride on the horse the entire way he walked, but it didn't bother him too much as he felt it was good to walk places. It forced him to focus on where he was going and be alert for danger. Yi Liling had begun to wear a high collared shirt to hide the minor wound Ao Ruang would leave behind on her, but despite his multiple feedings the last few days he still found the wound would be mostly healed by the next day.

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Several hours passed before the distant Spires towered above them and they came towards the gates to be stopped by several guards.

"Halt! Business and purpose for coming to Firedawn." The man was merely an iron warrior realm practitioner but it was enough for them to listen without hesitation.

Before Ao Ruang could open his mouth Yi Liling spoke up "My brother and I are here to visit family and we are looking at staying for a period of time."

With a nod the guard waved them forward “carry on Firedawn doesn’t tax travelers” after giving them a once over with his eyes he moved on to the next travelers who were behind them.

Ao Ruang looked at Yi Liling in confusion "Why did you say that?"

"Guards do not want details, they only want the bare bones and that is it. If you are too wordy they become suspicious of your intentions and that is never ideal." Yi Liling spoke as if she had seen this happen quite a few times.

Ao Ruang nodded and followed Yi Liling who was now dismounted and walking beside him.

"The goal of being in the city is to not be too noticeable, but with you being a cultivator it is best if you try and join one of the sects of the city as they will pay for you and disciples of sects are allowed one servant if you get in you can bring me in and they will cover our basic needs. They also have the most information about what is happening to you in their libraries."

Ao Ruang nodded in agreement and they quickly booked a room in a small inn not far from the city gates. Ao Ruang was confident he could enter a sect with his newly improved skills. He was also curious as to how much he had changed.

“Wouldn’t these sects reject an outsider?” Ao Ruang asked curiously.

“No they welcome anyone as long as it has the potential to bring more eyes and notice to their sect they will allow anyone within reason to join.”

“Let's head to a local inn and ask around for more information. What I know about Firedawn is probably outdated and we best get the latest information.”

…

After speaking to several locals the two had found out that the top sects of Firedawn were the Ghostly Whisper sect, the Fire hand sect, the Golden Bell sect, and the Soaring Sky Sword sect. Each one specialized in a specific type of martial techniques, but they were all open to all types of cultivators regardless.

The Fire Hand sect was focused on elemental cultivation methods, but particularly fire based Ki cultivation. Ao Ruang knew nothing about elemental cultivation, but seeing that he had a slight aversion to the sun he couldn't justify going to one that probably required lots of outdoor day time activities. The Golden Bell sect was a sect based mostly on duo cultivation techniques. Ao Ruang asked Yi Liling to explain what that meant, but she quickly told him that he wouldn't be a good fit for that kind. This left him with only two true options: the Ghostly Whisper and Soaring Sky Sword sect.

"What do you think, Yi Liling?" Ao Ruang sighed exasperated.

"How am I supposed to know? I am not a cultivator, but if you ask me the Ghostly Whisper sect sounds like they use more taboo methods of cultivation and it would be easier for you to hide your odd cultivation with them. Particularly since many taboo methods require night time cultivation it would give you an excuse to not be in the daylight." Yi Liling suggested confidently.

Ao Ruang nodded as the logic was sound “you are right there isn’t much reason to make any risk moves unless we have no other choice”. It didn't help that he had zero experience with weapons outside of simple daggers.

"The Ghostly Whisper sect has their weekly assessment tomorrow. We should rest and head over tomorrow. Yi Liling…"

"Yes, Ruang?"

"I'm getting hungry."

Yi Liling's face flushed as she nodded and followed Ao Ruang into their room. No matter how often he mentioned it there was something oddly intimate about the entire experience despite the small sting she felt it still felt oddly pleasurable and he was still a bit too young for marriage let alone something as intimate as this, but she had little options. Plus his presence was increasingly magnetic to her.