That night, little Fu sat beside a quiet stream in the garden, the water reflecting the soft silver of the moon. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and blooming nightflowers, their fragrance sweet but fleeting, like innocence on the edge of danger. She reached toward a vibrant flower, its petals alive with shades she could hardly name, wanting to copy it, to craft a small gift for her mother. She had no idea that this simple, tender moment would soon become a trap woven from shadows.
From the darkness emerged Shu Shu, her steps deliberate and slow, as though a nightmare had taken shape in the physical world. The faint rustle of her clothing whispered across the garden, each movement charged with a sorrowful determination. She lifted her hand toward Fu, her eyes glinting with a sharp, almost painful light."Forgive me, Fu… I need your power."
Before her fingers could brush Fu, Huo Feng exploded into motion like a storm unleashed. Her hands snatched Shu Shu's wrist with unbridled fury."You dare?! I won't let you!"
The ground trembled beneath them, a low rumble vibrating through the soles of their feet. From the depths of the garden, the Great Darkness rose—a monstrous shadow, colossal and insatiable, devouring every trace of color around it. Flowers wilted mid-bloom; the moonlight dimmed as if fear itself had fallen upon the sky.
Suo, the son of the noble clan, appeared suddenly, bursting from his house. His eyes blazed with a light that cut through the consuming dark. He saw the shadow lunging at Huo Feng and Fu and, without hesitation, flung himself into its path. The darkness struck him, a cold, piercing force, yet his body did not falter. Instead, his figure ignited, shining like a flame rising from the ashes, his cry echoing as he ascended, immortalized in sacrifice.
Silence fell, suffocating and absolute.
Wu Xin followed immediately, charging toward Huo Feng with the unwavering resolve that had earned him legends. He swung his sword, each arc slicing the air with deadly precision, but the darkness was vast and merciless. It tore into him, shaking his body violently before he crumpled to the ground.
Huo Feng knelt beside him, her hands trembling as she tried to staunch the bleeding, her chest heaving with fear and desperation. Her heart shattered into fragments she could not gather. She wanted to protect everyone—Shu Shu, Fu, Wu Xin—but the flood of events was unstoppable, a torrent that consumed every plan and hope.
When the darkness finally receded, only silence remained. Fu had vanished, swallowed by shadows. Shu Shu, too, had disappeared. Suo had ascended beyond the mortal realm, his sacrifice leaving a brilliant echo in the night. Wu Xin lay wounded, breathing but fragile, his body marked by the brutality of the encounter. Huo Feng sat amid the ruins, her voice hoarse, eyes hollow, tears streaking her cheeks.
From the distance, Revered Bi Hua approached, his presence calm, unaffected by the chaos. He paused, surveying the scene with a gaze that seemed to pierce the veil of time itself, and spoke in a voice deep and resonant:"The trial is not over… a gate has opened—and the journey now begins."
He settled beneath the white tree, its falling leaves shimmering faintly, like sparks of hope scattered across a sea of sorrow. He observed Wu Xin's wounds, the dark stains of blood marking the earth like a map of suffering.
Huo Feng knelt beside him, trembling, clutching his hands as if afraid he might vanish like dawn's first light. She lifted her tear-streaked eyes."Master… tell me, what should I do? His wounds won't heal… everything I've learned is useless!"
Bi Hua pressed his eyelids together, listening to echoes only he could perceive, before speaking again, his voice slow and weighted with gravity:"Not every medicine is made from herbs, girl… sometimes, the cure flows in the blood itself."
Huo Feng stared, bewildered. Her master's words seemed to shimmer with truths both ancient and immediate. Bi Hua exhaled, recalling memories buried in the folds of centuries past:"Hundreds of years before the Earth's time, the Celestial Realm faced an attack still remembered. The Monster King sought the blood of the Tree of Life—the blood that grants immortality and fertility. On the other side, the Shadow King coveted the forbidden Spell of Duplication. That night, the blood of Heaven clashed with the shadows of Earth, and your father, Jin Hai, fell, protecting the remnants of our light."
Huo Feng gasped, a shudder opening old wounds in her heart."Father… that night…"
Bi Hua's eyes, vast and unyielding, cut through the present."Your blood, Huo Feng, is no ordinary blood. The essence of the Tree of Life flows within you. If you wish to save Wu Xin, you must feed him with it."
Panic twisted Huo Feng's chest. She looked at Wu Xin's bloodied lips, then at her trembling fingers, realizing what Bi Hua would not say aloud: her blood carried the light of the Tree, yet her body was forged in the magical furnace. She was a convergence of creation and destruction, of life and incineration."My blood… if it carries the Tree's essence, what about the body that holds it? Will it burn him instead of saving him?"
Bi Hua smiled faintly, a smile tangled with fate's subtle cunning."Your blood can be either his doom… or his salvation. The choice is yours; the outcome is beyond my hands."
Her teeth clenched. With a trembling resolve, she pricked her palm. A droplet of blood emerged—not red like human blood, but shimmering with golden-green luminescence, like the morning dew on a celestial tree. Slowly, she brought her hand to Wu Xin's lips, tears mingling with the quiet storm of her thoughts."If my blood holds the furnace's flame… and within it, the breath of the Tree… let Heaven decide what it keeps from both."
And then, she let the first droplet fall.