WebNovels

Chapter 1 - Rebirth beneath the ashes

Darkness.

A silence so complete, it felt like the universe had exhaled its final breath.

Then came the fire.

Agonizing. Consuming. Endless.

Shen Yu had expected death to be quiet. Perhaps even peaceful. A reward, maybe, for a life spent serving others, strategizing for lords too foolish to heed his counsel until the blade was already at their throats. He had died with no glory. No one mourning him. Betrayed by the very kingdom he had saved.

So why was there pain?

He gasped—or tried to. The air burned. His lungs refused to obey. His body twitched with unnatural spasms, bones shifting and grinding beneath seared flesh. Not human. Something else. Something wrong.

Then came the voice.

[System initializing… Binding host soul… Dragon Core detected… Sovereign Lineage: Fragmented…]

It wasn't a voice in the traditional sense. It echoed not in his ears, but in his mind, like a whisper beneath thought.

[Status: Critical. Hatchling state. No cultivation detected. Environment hostile.]

What system? What hatchling? Shen Yu tried to open his eyes, and for a moment, he wished he hadn't.

Above him, jagged rocks glowed red-hot with lava veins. Steam hissed through cracks in the obsidian walls. The cavern stank of sulfur and blood. And he—he lay in the center of it all, in a bed of broken eggshells and scattered bones.

An infant dragon.

Jet-black scales, some chipped and raw, lined his thin serpentine body. His tail was stubby. His claws—barely formed. His wings, if they could be called that, were scorched membranes twitching with pain.

He was weak. Vulnerable.

"This… isn't reincarnation. It's punishment," he rasped—or thought he did. The sound that emerged from his throat was a croak, more beast than man.

[Name: —]

[Race: Abyssal Dragon Hatchling (Bloodline: Fragmented Sovereign)]

[Cultivation Realm: None]

[Skills: —]

[Status: Injured | Malnourished | Soul Disoriented]

[Main Objective: Reclaim Sovereignty. Survive. Evolve.]

Shen Yu's mind moved quickly, despite the pain. The information was vague, but the implications were clear. He had been reincarnated—not as a human, not even as a demonic cultivator, but into the body of a newborn dragon. A rare and ancient creature in the world of cultivation.

And he was barely clinging to life.

He turned his head slightly, feeling the pull of cracked muscles. Beside the nest were the mangled corpses of two beasts—wolf-like things, black fur matted with blood. One still had his egg-tooth buried in its eye.

So I wasn't alone in the egg.

The thought brought a strange sense of sorrow. Whatever siblings he might've had… they were already gone.

And yet, he felt nothing. Just a quiet understanding. They were weak. He had survived. That was all that mattered.

[Emergency Protocol Activated: Absorption Ability Unlocked.]

[Devour Abyssal Beasts to restore strength and unlock Dragon Vein Awakening.]

A ripple passed through his stomach, a deep instinct urging him forward. Slowly, trembling, he dragged his body to the nearest corpse. His claws sunk into still-warm flesh. His jaw unhinged.

It wasn't just eating. It was absorption. As he bit into the beast, a surge of corrupted spiritual energy flooded into him. Not clean qi—but tainted, wild, and volatile.

He braced himself, expecting sickness.

Instead, he felt… alive.

The burned patches on his wing knit together slightly. His vision sharpened. His tail flexed with slightly more control.

[Absorption Complete. Minor Recovery Initiated.]

[Host gains Passive Skill: Abyssal Resistance (Tier 0).]

"Interesting," Shen Yu muttered internally. "So the more I devour, the faster I evolve. A system of survival through conquest."

He wasn't opposed to the idea.

This world wasn't one of balance and harmony. Cultivation was built upon death, bloodshed, and ascension through force. The strong reigned. The weak obeyed—or died.

This time, Shen Yu intended to climb to the top.

The cavern trembled.

A growl echoed from deeper in the tunnel system. Heavy footsteps—slow, methodical, and far too large to belong to a mere wolf-beast.

His sharpened senses picked up the scent. Rank. Familiar.

The mother.

Or perhaps something worse.

His body reacted before his thoughts did. He limped toward the far end of the cavern, where shadows pooled like ink. His wings couldn't carry him yet. Flying was suicide. Stealth, then. Strategy. As always.

"I don't need to win," he thought. "Just survive."

The beast emerged moments later. A hulking reptilian hybrid, half-lizard, half-bull, with abyssal horns and four glowing eyes. Its snout sniffed the broken eggshells. It roared—not out of grief, but fury.

Shen Yu watched from his crevice, unmoving. His heart beat steadily. Not fear. Just calculation.

The creature sniffed again, turning. It moved toward the bodies. Toward his meal.

Too close.

[System Alert: Emergency Combat Opportunity Detected.]

[Engaging basic combat instincts. Temporary Skill Unlocked: Dragonbite (Tier 0).]

A pulse of energy surged through his jaw. Strength he hadn't earned. Borrowed power from a system tied to his bloodline.

He launched.

Not a roar. A silent strike. His fangs sank into the back of the beast's neck before it could fully turn.

The surprise gave him an edge. He tore, bit again, ducked a wild tail swipe, and clamped onto its spine.

But strength was still unequal.

The beast flung him off with a single twist. He hit the wall with a crunch. Pain lanced through his ribs. One wing went limp again.

[Injury Sustained: Minor Fracture.]

The beast charged, bellowing.

Shen Yu closed his eyes for just a moment. And when he opened them—clarity.

He leapt left instead of back. The beast crashed into stone. He spun, using the momentum to lunge at its underbelly. Claws found flesh. He bit deep into a vital spot just beneath the ribs.

One strike. One kill.

Only because he thought rather than acted on instinct.

The beast collapsed, thrashing, then stilled.

[Abyssal Beast slain. XP gained. Essence absorbed.]

[Dragon Vein Awakening Progress: 12%]

[Skill: Dragonbite upgraded to Tier 1.]

He stood over the corpse, bleeding, breathing hard.

Still not enough.

Still too weak.

But alive.

"I need a name," he said aloud, voice low, deep with an echoing undertone. "Something fitting for a future sovereign."

He didn't remember much about his mother in the last life, but she used to say: "Even a spark in the ashes can light the world aflame."

"Call me Yan," he murmured. "Ashen Flame."

The system pulsed in acknowledgment.

[Host Name Updated: Long Yan]

[Path Initialized: Sovereign Flame Dragon]

Far above, in the celestial heavens, a ripple spread through the threads of fate.

In a world ruled by sects, where cultivators worshipped ancient dragons as extinct legends, a new force had just taken its first breath beneath the ashes of the world.

He would not be a pawn again.

He would devour the abyss, rise above the heavens, and carve his name into the bones of empires.

Not a tyrant.

A sovereign.

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