An Invitation from the Shadows
The black disk sat heavy in Jayden's palm, its surface still warm from the last traces of Kaito's chi. Etched in dragon bone was a symbol — a skull crowned with fire, its jaw open as if roaring toward the heavens.
Jayden stood alone on the roof of his building, the city stretching before him in a sea of neon and shadow. His wounds from the Five Peaks battle were healing, but his heart was far from still.
The Tomb That Breathes Fire.
The words circled his thoughts like vultures.
Kaito had vanished after the battle, but he had left behind more than just that ominous disk. He'd left a trail — a message, encoded within the chi inscription on the back of the medallion. Jayden had spent hours deciphering it, cross-referencing it with old martial glyphs in one of the scrolls from the dragon vault.
At last, he had coordinates.
Deep below the city. Beneath a collapsed subway tunnel. Hidden in the catacombs of Old Southcross — a place most people avoided out of fear.
But Jayden wasn't like most people.
Not anymore.
Descending the Forgotten Veins of the City
The air grew colder as Jayden dropped through the broken tunnel, landing with a soft crunch of old bones and shattered tile. A single chi lamp floated above him, lit with his flame. Its glow flickered against the dusty, crumbling walls as he advanced.
He passed broken rails, graffitied walls, and the carcass of an old subway train — half-eaten by rust, half-buried in time. Then he found it.
A giant obsidian door. Circular. Etched in ancient dragon script.
He placed the medallion in the center groove.
It clicked.
The door inhaled — literally. The air pulled inward, heat rising like breath from the lungs of a beast. Then the door opened with a roar of flame, vanishing into ash and smoke.
Jayden stepped through.
And entered The Tomb That Breathes Fire.
The Dragon's Hall
The tomb was not a burial ground. It was a temple.
Massive and circular, its walls bore murals depicting The Great Dragon War — images of celestial beasts locked in combat, of cities in the sky, of ancestors wielding blades that cut through mountains. In the center sat a colossal dragon skeleton, its body still radiating heat, its mouth wide open toward a throne of molten stone.
Jayden moved slowly, reverently.
As he approached the throne, torches lit themselves along the walls, casting a golden light across the hall.
Then — from the shadows behind the throne — a figure emerged.
Tall. Hooded. Robes black and gold. A mask shaped like a snarling dragon covered his face.
"You carry the flame," the figure said, voice deep and hollow. "And the blood."
"Are you… with the Dragon Dynasty?" Jayden asked.
"I am what remains of its true order," the figure replied. "And you… are the Heir Unawakened."
Jayden's fists clenched. "You knew my father?"
The figure stepped forward, removing the mask.
Jayden's heart skipped.
It was Uncle Marcus — his father's younger brother. A man Jayden hadn't seen in six years. Supposedly killed in a car crash.
"You were never supposed to know this world," Marcus said. "But the seal broke early. Your power woke too soon."
"You left me," Jayden said. "You knew everything. You abandoned me after Dad vanished!"
"I stayed hidden to protect you from them," Marcus growled. "You think what attacked you on the rooftop was chance? They've been watching you since you turned twelve. Since the first trace of the Dragon Pulse emerged in your chi."
Jayden stepped back. "Then why bring me here now?"
Marcus turned to the throne.
"Because it's time you reclaimed what was stolen."
The Flame Core Ritual
Behind the throne, Marcus lifted a slab of stone, revealing a hidden chamber beneath the tomb. The air within shimmered with heat.
Inside sat a Chi Furnace — ancient and humming, filled with floating herbs, glowing stones, and liquid fire.
"This is the Dragon Flame Core," Marcus said. "One of seven in existence. Only those of the Bloodline can absorb its fire."
He pulled out a scroll — thin as silk, glowing faintly — and handed it to Jayden.
"This will show you the ritual. It's dangerous. Most who try it die. But if you succeed…"
Jayden didn't wait for the end of that sentence.
He stepped toward the furnace.
The scroll floated before him and opened itself. A thousand runes swirled around him in golden light, forming a circle of chi.
Jayden sat cross-legged. Closed his eyes. Breathed in the fire.
It burned.
Not like normal pain — this was soul-deep. His body screamed, his meridians cracked, his bones ignited from within. Visions swirled: dragons roaring, his father's face in flames, a girl with silver eyes, a crown of scales.
He screamed.
And then, like a storm breaking — clarity.
The fire became him.
His veins pulsed with golden-red light. His chi tripled. His cultivation surged forward like a tidal wave, and he passed the threshold of Level 4 — Internal Flame Awakening.
Jayden opened his eyes.
His breath steamed with dragon fire.
Knowledge Etched in Flame
Marcus stared, stunned.
"You survived it."
Jayden stood, slightly trembling. "It showed me things… things I shouldn't know."
He turned toward the tomb walls.
"There's more than one heir. Isn't there?"
Marcus's face darkened. "There is a rival lineage. One that betrayed the dynasty, thousands of years ago. They've been reborn — hiding among the clans, seeking to kill the heir before the final convergence."
Jayden remembered the girl on the rooftop. Silver eyes. A spark in her palm.
"She's one of them."
Marcus nodded. "She's the Phoenix Vessel. Just as you are the Dragon Heir."
"And what happens… when fire meets flame?"
Marcus didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Emerging with New Power
Jayden left the tomb hours later, the furnace chamber sealed once more.
He'd gained more than cultivation. He had absorbed a flame spark — a rare essence that allowed him to forge god-tier pills in time. His chi control had sharpened. His body now resisted low-tier poisons, and his pulse was imbued with elemental heat — enough to melt steel with a punch.
Back on the streets of Southcross, the gangs had no idea what walked among them.
Jayden crossed an alley when someone lunged at him — a mugger with a knife.
Jayden didn't even flinch.
He tapped the man's wrist — a pressure point he learned through acupuncture training. The man collapsed, paralyzed.
Jayden sighed.
"This city's gonna need stronger monsters."
Final Scene – A Shadow Within a Sect
In a hidden dojo high in the mountains outside the city, the girl with silver eyes stood before a mirror, her reflection flickering with fire.
She was breathing fast.
"He survived the Tomb," she whispered.
A voice echoed in the chamber — low, ancient, female.
"As we expected. The prophecy moves forward. Prepare the next trial. The Phoenix must burn… or the Dragon will soar."