Heaven-Burning Dragon Emperor

The day after returning to Shrek, Huo Chen found Wu Feng in the core disciples' training room.

She was doing extra training.

Her Fire Dragon Martial Soul had condensed into a crimson phantom behind her. Its wings spread wide, and the scorching waves of heat warped the air around it.

She hammered her fists into the testing target forged from refined steel, one punch after another. Each strike left a shallow dent in its surface, accompanied by a dull impact.

Sweat slid down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor with a sizzle, instantly evaporating into white vapor.

She was so absorbed in her training that she did not even notice Huo Chen entering.

Huo Chen did not interrupt her. Leaning against the doorframe, he watched quietly for a while.

Her punches were more refined than they had been a month ago, and the quality of her flames had improved as well. But she was still some distance away from a true qualitative transformation.

The Fire Dragon's potential went far beyond this. It was simply that her Martial Soul could not yet bear power of a higher level.

He waited until she finished a round and drew back her fists to catch her breath before calling out, "Wu Feng."

Wu Feng spun around sharply. Seeing him, she froze for a moment, then hurriedly wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve. "Teacher Huo? When did you get here?"

"Just now." Huo Chen stepped into the training room and stopped in front of her. "I have something for you."

Wu Feng blinked, watching him curiously. Huo Chen did not keep her in suspense. He directly extended his right hand, palm facing upward.

A fist-sized ball of crimson light emerged from his palm, radiating a scorching, ancient aura.

The instant the ball of light appeared, the Fire Dragon Martial Soul within Wu Feng's body shuddered violently. As if it had sensed some supreme existence, it let out a low cry that was nearly one of submission.

Wu Feng's pupils contracted sharply. "What is that?"

"The Fire Dragon King's origin," Huo Chen said. "I retrieved it from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Your Fire Dragon Martial Soul has reached a bottleneck in quality. To advance further, it needs power of a higher level to guide its evolution. This origin is enough to transform your Martial Soul into something beyond a Fire Dragon."

Wu Feng stared at the crimson ball of light, her breathing growing rapid.

She could feel the Fire Dragon Martial Soul within her body raging frantically, like a beast starved for years catching the scent of flesh and blood, desperately longing to devour the power inside that sphere.

Yet she did not reach out to take it at once. Instead, she lifted her head and looked at Huo Chen, her gaze carrying a trace of complicated emotion.

"Teacher Huo... this is far too precious. Why are you giving it to me?"

"Because you have the potential." Huo Chen's reply was brief and direct. "Giving the Fire Dragon King's origin to someone mediocre would only be a waste. In your hands, it can realize its true value."

Wu Feng's lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but her throat felt as though it had been blocked by something.

She had never been good at expressing her feelings. Since childhood, she had grown accustomed to speaking with her fists, accustomed to using her fiery temper to conceal the softness in her heart.

But at this moment, faced with the man who had helped her time and again, she suddenly felt that all her blunt ways of expressing herself were useless.

In the end, she merely nodded hard, her voice somewhat hoarse. "...Alright."

Huo Chen had her sit cross-legged in the middle of the training room, then slowly pressed the Fire Dragon King's origin into her chest.

The moment that power entered Wu Feng's body, it erupted like magma.

Scorching currents surged through her meridians. Everywhere they passed, every inch of her meridians ached as if it were being seared by raging flames.

But Wu Feng gritted her teeth and endured it without making a sound, using her soul power to guide that violent force and gradually merge it with her Fire Dragon Martial Soul.

Huo Chen pressed a palm against the center of her back. The power of reincarnation slowly flowed into her body, helping her suppress the violent Fire Dragon King's origin and guiding it along the proper path.

Time passed, second by second.

Crimson-gold patterns surfaced across Wu Feng's skin, as though something within her body was awakening.

Her Fire Dragon Martial Soul condensed into a massive phantom behind her, and that phantom underwent a shocking transformation. Dark-gold patterns emerged across its formerly crimson scales, its wings grew broader, a pair of imposing dragon horns sprouted from its head, and golden flames burned within its eyes.

The Fire Dragon was transforming.

At the same time, the soul power within her body surged wildly upward.

Level twenty-five, level twenty-six, level twenty-seven. Within just a few breaths, her soul power broke through the threshold of level thirty and continued to rise. Level thirty-one, level thirty-two, level thirty-three.

In the end, her soul power stabilized firmly at level thirty-three.

But it was not over yet.

The moment the phantom of the Heaven-Burning Dragon Emperor behind her fully solidified, an even more vast power poured out from the Fire Dragon King's origin, gathering, compressing, and taking shape within her body.

A crimson-gold ring slowly appeared beneath her feet. Its color differed from that of any known soul ring. It was neither the white of ten years, the yellow of a hundred years, the purple of a thousand years, the black of ten thousand years, nor the red of a hundred thousand years.

It was crimson-gold.

A special soul ring color belonging solely to Dragon King-level beings, symbolizing the pinnacle of fire-element laws and the bloodline inheritance of an ancient Dragon King.

Wu Feng abruptly opened her eyes.

Crimson-gold flames burst from her eyes, leaving a scorching trail through the air.

The phantom of the Heaven-Burning Dragon Emperor behind her threw back its head and released an earth-shaking dragon roar. The roar was deeper and more majestic than before, carrying the kingly aura of ancient times.

The dragon roar echoed endlessly through the training room, shaking dust from the walls in soft cascades.

The Heaven-Burning Dragon Emperor.

An existence beyond the Fire Dragon, a god-tier Martial Soul capable of rivaling ancient Dragon Kings. And that crimson-gold soul ring was the most direct proof of this inheritance.

Wu Feng lowered her head to look at her hands, feeling the unprecedentedly vast power within her body. She remained silent for a long time.

Then she raised her head and looked at the man before her as he withdrew his hand. A thousand words surged through her heart, yet she could not speak a single one.

She rose to her feet and stood before him, opening her mouth, then closing it, then opening it again.

In the end, she said nothing.

She simply stepped forward, spread her arms, and hugged him tightly.

The embrace came without warning, carrying her uniquely reckless strength, as though she wanted to knead her entire body into his arms.

She buried her face in the hollow of his shoulder. Scalding tears slid down her cheeks, soaking the fabric on his shoulder.

Huo Chen froze for a moment, then gently patted her back. "All right. It's okay now."

Wu Feng said nothing. She only buried her face deeper and shook her head hard. Her shoulders trembled slightly, yet she stubbornly refused to make a sound.

After quite some time, she finally stepped out of his embrace. Keeping her head lowered, she roughly wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Her eye rims were red, as was the tip of her nose. She looked somewhat disheveled, but when she raised her head to look at him, her eyes held an unprecedented brightness and resolve.

"Teacher Huo." Her voice was hoarse, but more serious than ever.

"I, Wu Feng, have never truly submitted to many people in my life. But from today onward, I submit to you. If you tell me to go east, I'll never go west. If you tell me to fight someone, I'll fight them."

She paused, her voice lowering slightly but growing even firmer. "From today onward, this heart of mine is yours."

Huo Chen looked into those eyes brimming with determination and sincerity. He was silent for a moment before reaching out and gently ruffling her hair. "All right. I accept it."

At last, a broad smile spread across Wu Feng's lips. It held relief, joy, and the peace of someone who had finally found a place to belong. She nodded hard, then turned and strode out of the cultivation room.

When she reached the doorway, she suddenly stopped and looked back at him. Her smile carried a hint of playfulness rarely seen before. "Teacher Huo, can I stop calling you Teacher from now on?"

"Then what do you want to call me?"

Wu Feng thought for a moment, then grinned. "Your name."

With that, she did not wait for Huo Chen's reply before turning and running off. Her red ponytail swept out a crisp arc at the doorway before quickly vanishing around the end of the corridor.

Huo Chen stood in the cultivation room, watching her fiery figure run off. He shook his head helplessly, though the corners of his mouth rose slightly on their own.

He lowered his head and looked at his palm, where a trace of the Fire Dragon King's origin warmth still lingered.

He withdrew his hand and turned to leave the cultivation room. The afternoon sunlight spilled over him, stretching his shadow long, long behind him.