Chapter 129: The Birth of the Heaven-Burning One

Choosing the most direct route through the mountains and fields, the group traveled by horse. In just seven days, they arrived at the imperial capital. The arduous journey left them all looking rather disheveled.
Seeing the imperial city gates in sight, they finally managed to smile. Alice was the most excited—being a woman raised in luxury and a noble mage, the days of traveling through the wilderness had exhausted her greatly. Fatigue was less of an issue; the real problem was the lack of opportunity to bathe. If she weren’t a mage who could find a secluded place to clean up, she would have gone mad by now.
With a shout, she ran into the city before the others could react. Seeing her enthusiasm, the rest could only smile bitterly before rushing after her.
The bustling scene remained unchanged after just over half a month—exactly as it had been when they last visited. Such a familiar sight.
“Finally back~!” Even Anderson couldn’t help but feel emotional upon seeing the imperial capital.
“Come, let’s go to my place. We’ll rest there for a day today, and then head to the academy tomorrow!” Anderson invited the three with him.
“Nah, you go back by yourself. We’ll stay outside—it’s more convenient. Let’s meet at the city gates tomorrow morning!” Kiro declined Anderson’s offer with a smile.
This surprised Rod, who had thought Kiro was also a young master from the imperial capital. But Kiro wasn’t from there after all. Yet his refusal suited Rod’s wishes—staying outside was indeed more convenient. Noble households were full of etiquette, making things quite restrictive in many ways.
Seeing Rod and Roy also refuse, Anderson sighed, realizing his plan had failed. He agreed instead. With Alice’s eagerness, the two left quickly.
The remaining three, guided by Kiro, soon arrived at a small hotel and booked three rooms to settle down. “Heh, it’s still more convenient to stay here. Alright, everyone must be tired after these days. Let’s rest for a day and set off again tomorrow!”
Seeing that it was getting late, near evening, Kiro suggested having dinner first.

Nature, of course, had no opinions. Moreover, Rod was also someone who avoided trouble. Back in his room with nothing to do, he continued to train—this had been his routine all along. Whenever he had free time, he spent it training, and even during these intense days of travel, he never stopped. This made Kiro and the others exclaim that he was insane; it seemed like they had never seen anyone work so hard before.
…
He still felt his combat energy being absorbed by the little dragon, and the amount seemed to increase a bit more each time. After an unknown amount of energy was absorbed, it finally stopped. Suddenly, a warm sensation came from his dantian, followed by a slight pulsing. Upon sensing this, Rod’s expression changed, showing a hint of excitement. At that moment, the combat energy in his body suddenly began to circulate, gathering toward his dantian and being rapidly absorbed. The absorption that had previously stopped became even more intense.
He didn’t try to stop it, instead feeling excited. He knew exactly what was happening—the little dragon was finally waking up! That’s right, after nearly half a month, it had finally completed its awakening under the contract.
Rod knew that as long as it obtained enough energy, the fire dragon could immediately recover from its slumber and get back on track.
The combat energy was consumed at an astonishing speed. In just a short while, one-third of it was absorbed, and then it continued—half, two-thirds, three-quarters… Only when all of Rod’s combat energy was absorbed did everything slowly stop. By then, his body was empty, with only a faint trace of energy remaining.
As the absorption ceased, the dantian returned to silence. Seeing this, Rod was puzzled. Why? There was no change—had it not awakened yet?
Lifting his clothes, he looked at the dragon soul tattoo wrapped around the Xuanyuan tattoo and frowned in confusion.
“Master…” After observing for a long time with no changes, just as Rod was about to give up in utter disappointment, a faint voice came to his mind, causing his expression to change drastically. He trembled slightly and focused his mental energy inward. Sure enough, the voice grew clearer—it was the little dragon calling out to him.
Feeling this, he couldn’t help but smile excitedly and quickly replied, “Mm, little dragon? You’re awake? Great! You’ve finally awakened!”

“Master… I’m awake. I absorbed a lot of energy just now and regained my strength. I’ve grown a lot now!” came the reply from the little dragon. It no longer called him “Dad”; perhaps the memory transfer over this period had already taught it many things.

“That’s good!” Rod exhaled in relief after confirming his feelings and said excitedly.

“No, damn it! Barrier, form!” Xuanyuan’s voice came at the same time. With a loud shout, a blue barrier suddenly formed in the room, enclosing Rod inside.

A warmth spread from his lower abdomen, followed by a flash of red light. Before his eyes appeared a blood-red scale-covered body about two meters long and as thick as his arm. After just a few days apart, it had grown so much. Its scales were now wrinkled, transforming from the indistinct flesh when he was first distracted into clearly strengthened and hardened plates.

An aura of authority radiated from its entire body, fully displaying the unique presence of a dragon. Now he understood why Xuanyuan had suddenly cursed and why he had rushed to create a barrier. Without a barrier to block it, such an aura would have spread long ago. Although ordinary people might not notice it, even most warriors would struggle to detect it, but a master—just an Emperor-level warrior would definitely be able to sense it.

Where was this place? The imperial capital, a vital region of a country, the political center, right under the emperor’s feet. Were there no masters here? Nonsense. There were plenty—not to mention Emperor-level experts, there were also many Saint-level experts. It wouldn’t be strange if even a God-level expert were here. The Lance Empire alone had one God-level expert, who happened to live right in the imperial capital!

If this aura spread and those people found out, wouldn’t his identity be exposed in an instant? The consequences would be obvious. The more he thought about it, the more scared he became. A cold sweat appeared on his forehead as he sighed inwardly, feeling as if he were in an ice cellar.

Yet the culprit, the little dragon, seemed unaware. It snuggled close to Rod, coiling around his shoulder like a snake, with its eyes half-closed in satisfaction.

Looking at this adorable creature, he didn’t want to scold it, but fearing that Xuanyuan might not react in time if such a situation arose again, he focused his mind to communicate with it: “Little Dragon, don’t come out unless necessary next time. Remember, you’re not ready to come out yet. If you must, you need to ask me for permission in advance, understand? Otherwise, both you and I will be in danger!”

Rod patiently explained in a tone meant to comfort a child.
“Is that so? But I don’t like staying in that dark place, and there’s someone else who will bully me!” The little dragon’s aggrieved voice reached Rod’s mind innocently.
“Ahem… There’s no other way. For now, stay inside. Once we’re stronger, you’ll be able to come out whenever you want! Don’t worry, Xuan Yuan won’t bully you anymore! Be good!” Rod smiled bitterly inwardly. Who else could the little dragon be referring to? Besides Xuan Yuan, there was no one else! Rod had no choice but to promise.
“By the way, I can’t keep teaching you like this forever. Let me give you a name! Hmm, let me think… Dark Dragon Long Sword. As for you… call you Burn Heaven! That’s right, Burn Heaven! It burns everything—who can stop it? What do you think?” Rod asked after coming up with the name for the little dragon.
“Burn Heaven? Anything the master names is fine!” The little dragon accepted Rod’s choice without any objections.
“Hehe, that’s good. Alright, go back for now. I still have some things to deal with here. I’ll play with you again when I have time.” With reluctance and dissatisfaction, the little dragon finally returned to Rod’s dantian and fell silent after some persuasion.
“Phew… Thankfully, you know how dangerous that was just now? Really, just be more careful from now on. I’ll teach that little rascal a lesson for acting recklessly. Oh, and ignore his complaints. Hehe, I didn’t bully him—I was just training him! Don’t worry, I’ll train him into an absolutely powerful beast soul to help you!”
Once Burn Heaven returned to his body, Xuan Yuan immediately started complaining. Then, with a sly smile, he spoke to Rod before disappearing. Rod smiled bitterly inwardly. Now he understood why Burn Heaven didn’t want to stay in his body.
Sighing, he realized he was at a loss. Anyway, he trusted that Xuan Yuan wouldn’t go too far. It was for Burn Heaven’s and his own good. Seeing that it was getting late and his internal combat energy had been fully absorbed, he hurriedly resumed his training. They would set off the next morning, so he needed to be in top form.
This time, Burn Heaven didn’t continue to absorb his combat energy. His speed increased significantly. After countless cycles, he heard Kiro’s call from outside the door, yet his combat energy had only recovered to the eighth level. Sighing, he slowly stopped, retracted his energy, opened his eyes, and headed toward the door.
Through the window, he could see that it was already bright outside. Knowing that Kiro and the others were looking for him, it must be time to set off!