Qiao Sang brought her Fire Tooth Dog into a nearby alley.
The Fire Tooth Dog felt something was off, but the irresistible aroma of the super spicy grilled wings dulled its senses. Without much thought, it accepted the grilled wing handed to it by its Beast Master and took a big bite.
The meat was tender and quite delicious. The Fire Tooth Dog's eyes sparkled as it prepared for a second bite. But the next moment...
"Yah!!!"
A wretched cry echoed through the deserted alley. Passersby at the alley's entrance paused to peer inside, wondering if a beast abuse incident had occurred. When they saw a girl standing quietly nearby while the Fire Tooth Dog spat flames furiously at the wall, they quickly concluded that the fire-type beast must have gone wild for no reason. Not wanting to attract the attention of the raging beast, everyone hurriedly moved on as if they hadn’t seen anything.
"Fire Tooth Dog, hold on! Compress it, compress it! Try to spray only after compressing!" Qiao Sang reminded from the side.
"Yah!!!"
The Fire Tooth Dog’s eyes were indeed moist. It was crying...
Compress? What did that even mean? It only knew that it was about to be burned alive!
Heat surged in its stomach, the spiciness overwhelmed it, flooding its nose and throat.
"Yah!!!"
The Fire Tooth Dog was spraying flames instinctively, just wanting some relief for its throat and stomach. Qiao Sang clearly sensed that the flames from the Fire Tooth Dog were shifting from a spherical form to a columnar one, so she hurriedly took out her phone to record the scene.
Once the Fire Tooth Dog was exhausted and slumped onto the ground, Qiao Sang pulled out a bottle of special source milk from her bag and offered it to the beast. The Fire Tooth Dog immediately clasped the bottle with its paws and drank eagerly. In no time, the milk bottle was empty. It looked at Qiao Sang with tear-filled eyes, pleading.
Qiao Sang understood what it meant.
"No way! I only brought four bottles of milk in total, and I have to save some for later," she refused.
Why couldn’t it drink now? The Fire Tooth Dog stared blankly, not understanding, until its Beast Master once again offered it a string of chicken wings.
"Yah!"
In an instant, the Fire Tooth Dog backed away to the corner, shaking its head frantically. This was the thing that got it into trouble! It vowed never to eat this again!
Qiao Sang crouched beside the Fire Tooth Dog and showed it the video she just recorded.
"Look at this! Doesn’t the flame you spat out just now look different from usual?"
The Fire Tooth Dog watched itself in the video, caught off guard by the spicy aftermath. Its fur stood on end, tears and snot covered its face, far from the heroic reflection it had admired earlier that morning.
"Yah yah!"
The Fire Tooth Dog covered its eyes with its paws, refusing to acknowledge that the pitiful creature in the video was itself.
Feeling the Fire Tooth Dog's embarrassment, Qiao Sang blinked in surprise; she had forgotten how much it cared about its image.
Looks like I can only try another approach...
Qiao Sang picked up her phone and searched for videos of other fire-type beasts competing, deliberately adding "cool" to her keywords. She hadn't previewed them and clicked on a video with high recent views, placing it in front of the Fire Tooth Dog, saying, "Take a look."
Peeking through a crack between its paws, the Fire Tooth Dog saw that this video wasn’t the foolish display it had just made, and it lowered its paws.
In the video, a Blazing Lion was showcasing its brilliant curly red mane. It howled to the sky, and with a mighty swipe of its front paw, it conjured a fire the size of an egg above its head. The terrifying energy of the flame rose higher and higher, scattering like fireworks. The cascading sparks painted a beautiful scene. The Fire Tooth Dog was mesmerized, but just as it was enjoying the show, a deafening explosion disrupted everything as the sparks landed.
The video showed clouds of dust swirling, and when the explosion settled, the ground was left in ruins. Potholes marred the area, and the opponent was charred, unrecognizable.
The beautiful scene quickly turned into a terrifying site. The Fire Tooth Dog stared, frozen, at the screen.
Qiao Sang felt a bit dazed after watching the video. While she wanted the Fire Tooth Dog to see a flashy fire skill, that wasn’t the right difficulty at this stage!
She wanted it to see skills like flame spraying, fireballs, or blasts that a beginner beast could master. The meteor shower seen in the video was a high-level skill beyond what the Fire Tooth Dog could learn at this point.
As Qiao Sang considered switching to another video, she noticed the Fire Tooth Dog was still captivated by the previous footage.
Thinking quickly, she tempted, "Wanna learn it?"
The Fire Tooth Dog’s eyes brightened instantly, lifting its head and looking at Qiao Sang with eager excitement.
She guessed right! Qiao Sang secretly applauded her cleverness.
"Actually, I just wanted you to understand a new skill. Did you notice the flames you spit out earlier were different? The grilled wings are the key to unlocking the energy inside you! If you follow my instructions, you’ll definitely learn the meteor shower seen in that video.” Qiao Sang encouraged, embellishing the truth a bit.
Learning the meteor shower was impossible, but mastering some lower-level fire skills was still a chance.
"Yah!"
The Fire Tooth Dog nodded seriously after hearing its Beast Master.
It completely forgot about its earlier embarrassing scene in the video and the taste of the wings, only focusing on mastering this impressive skill.
"Wait until you finish the wings, don’t randomly spray fire. Gather and compress the energy before launching it," Qiao Sang took the opportunity to instruct.
"Yah!"
The Fire Tooth Dog replied with excitement, taking the string of wings it had sworn never to touch again with heavy paws.
It closed its eyes and held its breath, preparing for an all-out bite of the grilled wing.
"Yah!!!"
The familiar sensation surged back.
"Compress!" Qiao Sang reminded from the side.
The Fire Tooth Dog fought against the urge to spray flames immediately, focusing on the energy within, compressing and compressing it as much as it could.
When it felt it had reached its peak, it could no longer hold back and released the gathered flames.
This time, instead of the usual spark or the recent cylinder-like flames, a searing torrent of fire shot out rapidly in a spiral motion.
Before Qiao Sang could understand what was happening,
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
She heard the sound of bricks crashing down.
The wall collapsed...
Qiao Sang felt darkness envelop her as she stood frozen in her spot, meeting the eyes of an old man across the wall, who was leaning on his cane.
The Fire Tooth Dog looked with satisfaction at the power of its flames, momentarily forgetting its need for milk to relieve the spiciness, and turned to Qiao Sang, eagerly awaiting praise.
Before it could admire its handiwork more, it felt itself lift into the air.
It turned out its Beast Master was carrying it and running out.
"Yah?"
The Fire Tooth Dog looked confused.
Weren’t they supposed to be learning a new skill? Why were they running?
Panic filled Qiao Sang’s heart.
Did that old man just see her?
Surely he did...
He must remember her...
After all, she was so beautiful...
(End of Chapter)