Read Novel Full Vol 3 Chapter 6 Part 1
Here’s the chapter. Enjoy~
Chapter 6 – Flame Tiger
Part 1
“I can see it now! That must be the Temple of the Beginning!”
Lexia pointed to a building in the distance.
A huge temple appeared at the bottom of the hill.
“Wow, that is a magnificent building!”
“I didn’t know there was such a large temple in such a remote area…”
As they approached, a solemn atmosphere began to prevail.
The temple, located on a wide plain, looked like a palace, with a large circular building rising above a wide staircase. It seemed to have been built long ago; the walls were faded and decayed, and some parts were crumbling.
“It is a very old building. The name ‘Temple of the Beginning’ suggests that it has existed since the founding of the country.”
“It looks more like a ruin than a temple.”
Xiaolin, who had been looking around, opened her mouth.
“I don’t think my brothers and sister have arrived yet.”
“Yay, we are the first to arrive! Let’s go in!”
“Watch your step; it’s crumbling in places.”
They climbed the stairs and stood in front of a huge door the size of a castle gate.
“It’s a big door! It looks very heavy, but will it open?”
At that moment, Xiaolin gasped.
“What is it, Xiaolin-sama?”
“I feel like I’m being called…”
“Eh?”
A moment later, as if to welcome Xiaolin, the door opened with a heavy thud.
“Wawa, the door opens by itself…”
The corridor that appeared was long, and the way ahead was a haze of darkness.
Xiaolin clears her throat.
“It’s time for the final trial…!”
“Come on, let’s go!”
Just as the four of them were about to enter the temple.
“Stop!”
They turned at the sound of a shrill voice.
At the bottom of the stairs, the three princes and the princess were standing, breathing heavily.
“Damn, I finally caught up with you…!”
“Ara, you’re all together, aren’t you? What happened to your followers?”
“They all ran away, those cowards…!”
Lu Won spat out in disgust and glared at Xiaolin.
“I don’t know what tricks you used, but I’m surprised the failure made it this far──no, wait. …What’s with your hair color?”
Lu Won frowned at Xiaolin, who had half-red hair.
“U-um, this is…”
Lu Won laughed at Xiaolin’s hesitation.
“Hahaha, what, you got sick of the half-colored hair and dyed it? Even if you did that, a half-breed is still a half-breed.”
“You’re getting further and further away from the sacred orange flower color, aren’t you? It suits you, doesn’t it?”
“What? Xiaolin-sama has the real dragon power──Mghh!”
Luna stopped Lexia’s mouth as she was about to reply.
“No need to get into trouble; just shut up for now.”
“Mmm, mmm!”
On the other hand, Yue, who had witnessed Xiaolin’s dragon power in the forest, hesitantly opened her mouth.
“Brother Lu Won, Mao, be careful. That girl has a strange power. It’s red and powerful, and she said it’s dragon power, but…”
“Hmph, how could such a failure use such power? And there is no way that it is the dragon power. It must have been a strange trick anyway.”
Lu Won snickered and put his foot on the stairs.
“Turn back, Xiaolin. The final trial is so severe that some of you may even lose your lives. The sooner you leave, the better off you will be.”
But Xiaolin shook her head.
“I will never give up. I will overcome the final trial and become a great emperor like Fa Lan-sama.”
“I have told you many times. There is no way a half-breed like you can become an emperor!”
When Lu Won raised his voice, Lexia shook off Luna’s hand.
“Pfft! You can only talk like that for so long! This is the last trial, and Xiaolin-sama will win!”
“What? Don’t let your tutor talk to me──!”
“Wait, I hear something! It sounds like the roar of a beast…”
Tito turned her cat ears to the end of the corridor.
Indeed, a low, thundering voice could be heard faintly from beyond the darkness.
“W-what’s that sound…?”
“…Let’s go.”
“H-hey, wait!”
The four of them entered the temple hall, leaving the frightened prince and the others behind.
They rushed after them.
“…It’s creepy.”
“And what’s with the heat…?”
The sound of seven footsteps echoed through the huge corridor.
The heat inside the temple was still and heavy.
The magnificent curtains and ritual implements on display were covered in dust, and the pillars and decorations that had once been brightly painted were now faded.
The princes and princess looked around and muttered uncomfortably.
“It’s quite old. It looks like a venerable building with a fine style, but…”
“I’ve never even heard of such a temple…”
At that moment, Tito’s cat ears twitched.
“It’s just behind this door.”
A massive door opens at the end of the corridor.
“What in the world is in there?”
Xiaolin’s breath caught in her throat,
“Vuooooooooooooo!”
A terrifying roar came from behind the door.
“Hyii? What is that voice?”
“W-what is it? What exactly is that?”
Tito shouted in a tense voice as the princes and princess froze in fear.
“J-just now, amidst the roar, I heard a faint human voice…!”
“Is someone in there?”
“Something is happening! We have to hurry!”
“Wait, Lexia! Don’t get ahead of us!”
“H-hey, don’t leave us!”
Luna and the others rushed after Lexia, who shot out like a bullet, followed by the princes and the princess.
Lexia opened the door forcefully.
“Ugh! What is this heat…?”
A stifling hot wind blew.
An unexpected scene unfolded there.
“Vuooooooooooooooo!”
In the middle of the temple, a tiger was howling and raging, its entire body covered in flames. It was taller than an ordinary house, with thick fangs and claws and a thick fur coiled in a fiery rage.
Seeing the figure facing the fearsome beast, Xiaolin exclaimed.
“Father!”
The man standing alone against the flaming tiger was Liu Jian, Emperor of the Lianxi Empire.
“W-why is Father here? And what exactly is that monster?”
“Vuooooooooooooo!”
“Kuh…!”
The tiger spat flames that Liu Jian barely avoided.
The stone statue that was directly hit by the flames immediately burst into flames and melted, turning into bright red lava.
“Haaaaahh… huh!”
Liu Jian let the dragon power rise from his entire body and hit the tiger.
“Gaaaahhh!”
The tiger glared at Liu Jian with even angrier eyes as it took the torrent of dragon power to the side of its body.
“Grrrrrr…!”
“Oh no, how could it not fall under that attack…!”
“Father, what in the world is that…!”
“! You all finally came…!”
Liu Jian noticed the group standing there in a daze, and his voice was strained.
“I can no longer handle this on my own! I need your help!”
“Father, what is that monster?”
Liu Jian stared at the tiger with sharp eyes.
“Calm down and listen to me; that is the Flame Tiger!”
“Eh, Flame Tiger, you mean…?”
“Didn’t Fa Lan-sama defeat it a thousand years ago…?”
Liu Jian’s face contorted in pain.
“Kuh, we’ll talk about that later! For now, let’s just combine all of our dragon powers to defeat──…!
“Vuooooooooooooooooooo!”
Halfway through his words, a roar rang out that shook the ground.
Their skin trembled, and their strength drained from them.
“Kuh? W-what is that roar…?”
“I can’t muster the strength…!”
The louder the roar sounded, the more their bodies cowered regardless of their will, draining them of their strength.
Luna’s voice trailed off as she resisted the urge to fall to her knees.
“The roar of the fire, burning everything to the ground, making you cower…! Could it be──is this creature one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the Wrath?”
“S-Seven Deadly Sins?”
The Seven Deadly Sins are a collective name for legendary monsters.
There are seven types of monsters with terrifying powers in the world, led by the Gluttony Worm, which bears the name Gluttony, and all of them have the highest combat power and special abilities.
“No way… The Flame Tiger is one of the Seven Deadly Sins…!”
“Aaagh!”
Liu Jian’s scream brought them back to their senses.
Liu Jian was on his knees, holding his shoulder as if he had been attacked by the tiger.
“Father!”
“Goaaaaaah!”
The tiger spit out flames to finish off Liu Jian, who was unable to move.
As the flames swirl around Liu Jian──
“Kuh, will I make it in time── Avoidance!”
Luna wraps a string around Liu Jian’s body and pulls him in just in time.
“Vuoooooooooooo!”
Tito jumps in front of the tiger, who tries to follow.
“I won’t let you! Fiery Claws!”
“Gruaaaaaah!”
Countless vacuum waves created by the sharp claws rush at the tiger.
While the tiger was terrified, the group fled behind the altar with the injured Liu Jian.
“Hah, hah…”
“Father, hold on!”
Liu Jian’s right shoulder was slashed.
“Not good… Tito, medicinal herbs! First, we need to stop the bleeding and give him first aid!”
“Yes!”
Luna and Tito immediately started the treatment.
Liu Jian’s face was contorted with pain, and Lu Won and the others asked in dismay.
“Father, what is the meaning of this?”
“Why is the tiger that was supposed to be defeated by Fa Lan-sama here?”
Liu Jian opened his mouth to the pale princes and princesses with a pained look on his face.
“The truth of the Lianxi Empire has only been passed down to those who have been emperors for generations… A thousand years ago, the power of the tiger was so great that even the first emperor, Fa Lan-sama, could only seal it…”
“What…?”
“The tiger sealed in this shrine continued to slumber after Fa Lan-sama’s death, accumulating anger for a thousand years. The anger grew with each passing year, and once it erupted in full force, it would quickly overrun the Lianxi Empire─or maybe not just the Lianxi Empire, but even the world. For this reason, every few decades, the tiger is sealed up again and put to sleep by those who have inherited the dragon power…”
“N-no way…”
“The resealing of the tiger was the final trial… and the trial ceremony was a ritual for this purpose.”
Looking at Lexia and the others’ serious eyes, Liu Jian nodded.
“That’s right. In order to set up the sealing barrier, you need an enormous amount of dragon power and the power to control it delicately… that’s why the successive heirs to the throne were given severe trials to train their dragon power, and those who overcame the trials combined their power to rebuild the barrier. However, after a thousand years, the tiger’s rage was so fierce that the seal gradually lost its effectiveness. I was so worried that I came to the temple earlier than planned… but I was one step too late, and the seal was broken…!”
Liu Jian held his deeply wounded shoulder and appealed to the princes and princesses under his ragged breath.
“The tiger has continued to accumulate anger during the time it was sealed and has become even more powerful than it was a thousand years ago. I can no longer defeat it alone… Please fight with me! We must all join forces and seal the tiger once again…!”
“N-no way…”
The princes and the princess turned pale and shook their heads weakly.
“Th-there’s no way we can do that…”
“Even Fa Lan-sama couldn’t defeat such a monster… the Seven Deadly Sins…”
“It’s definitely impossible for me to face such a monster…!”
“No ordinary attack will work against it…! We have no choice but to weaken it with our dragon power and seal it… we have to do it…!”
Liu Jian desperately tried to convince them, but the princes and the princess, who had witnessed the horror of the tiger, only hesitated.
In the midst of all this, Xiaolin opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind.
“…Father, I──”
At that moment, the altar collapsed with a roar.
Crumble, crumble!
“Goaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Kyaaaaaaaahhh!”
A single swipe of a giant claw shattered the remaining altar.
The tiger, exhaling flames between its fangs, growled at the eight.
“H-hyiii! Don’t come here!”
Lu Won manifested his dragon power and transformed into a giant arm to strike the tiger.
However.
“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…!”
“Hyiii! The attack doesn’t work…!”
“No, it works, but the damage is shallow…!”
As Luna grumbled, the tiger staggered slightly but only received a superficial wound.
Liu Jian bit his lip.
“Kuh… after all, the dragon power that has faded after a long time will not work…!”
“W-what do you mean? The dragon power that we, the emperor’s family, have inherited has faded…?”
“What does that mean, Father?”
Yue and Mao also attacked with dragon power in dismay, but the tiger angrily shook its head to repel the attack and opened its mouth to turn the eight of them into ashes.
“Grrrrrrrrrrr… gaaahhh!”
“Aaaaahhhh!”
The burning flames closed in on the prince and the others──”
“Retreat! Spiral!”
“Whirlwind Claws!”
The flames were extinguished by Luna and Tito.
“Wha!? The Flame Tiger’s flames have been dissipated!”
“W-what the hell was that ridiculous move?”
“Even the best of the Royal Guard can’t break through those flames!”
Like the princes and the princess, Liu Jian was also astonished.
“Y-you are Xiaolin’s followers who were at the opening ceremony──or maybe tutors? This is no ordinary power to be able to fight the Flame Tiger without dragon power; who in the world are you…?”
“Grrrrrr…!”
The tiger was frightened for a moment when its flames were extinguished, but this time, it bent down to pounce on them, rounding them all up.
“Gooaaaahhhh!”
“Hyiiiiiiiii!”
“Damn, you can’t…!”
Lexia shouted before Liu Jian could even formulate her dragon power.
“Xiaolin-sama, now!”