Lin Yue POV
Shen Qinghe blasted through the collapsed cave entrance like it was paper.
Rocks exploded outward as her spiritual energy tore through the rubble. I stumbled as we landed inside the dark tunnel, my demonic vision adjusting to see in the pitch black.
"This way!" I grabbed her sleeve, pulling her deeper. "The sacrificial chamber is at the bottom. That's where the seal was strongest."
We ran through the tunnel, our footsteps echoing. Behind us, I heard distant sounds—Elder Liu and his group had reached the peak. They were digging down.
"They're faster than I thought," Hei Long said nervously. "If they break through first—"
"They won't." I pushed myself to run faster, even though my half-transformed body screamed in protest. Every step felt like running on broken glass, but I didn't care. This was my only chance.
The tunnel opened into the sacrificial chamber. The altar was still split in half from when Hei Long broke free. Ancient symbols glowed faintly on the walls, pulsing like a heartbeat.
"There." Shen Qinghe pointed at the chamber's far wall. "That's where the phoenix is sealed. I can feel its energy. It's... enormous."
She was right. Now that we were close, I could feel it too—a massive presence behind the stone, burning with power that made my demonic energy feel like a candle next to the sun.
Shen Qinghe raised her hands, gathering spiritual energy. "Stand back. Breaking this seal will—"
The ceiling exploded.
Elder Liu and his three companions crashed through from above, landing in the chamber in a cloud of dust and debris. His eyes locked onto the sealed wall, then onto us, and his face twisted with rage.
"You!" He pointed at me, and his hand was shaking. "The Lin girl! You survived!"
"Surprise," I said, baring my teeth. They weren't quite human teeth anymore—slightly sharper, more predatory. "Miss me?"
One of the cultivators gasped. "She's the demon we sensed! She's fused with—"
"I don't care what she's fused with!" Elder Liu snarled. "Kill her! And stop that woman from breaking the seal!"
They attacked.
Spiritual energy blasts filled the chamber. Shen Qinghe threw up a barrier that shimmered like glass, protecting us from the first wave. But there were four of them and only one of her.
"Lin Yue!" She shouted over the noise of clashing powers. "I'll hold them off. You break the seal!"
"What? I don't know how—"
"Your blood! Your Pure Yin bloodline created this prison! Your blood can open it!" She grunted as Elder Liu's attack cracked her barrier. "Hurry!"
I ran to the sealed wall, pulling out a sharp rock. Without thinking too hard about it, I slashed my palm open. Blood—darker than it should be, with black streaks from Hei Long's influence—dripped onto the ancient symbols.
The wall began to glow.
"No!" Elder Liu screamed. He tried to push past Shen Qinghe, but she grabbed his arm and twisted, throwing him across the chamber. "Stop her!"
One of the other cultivators broke through, rushing at me with a sword raised. I saw my death in his eyes—
"Not today," Hei Long growled.
My body moved on its own. Black smoke poured from my hand, forming a shield that caught the sword. The blade shattered on impact, and the cultivator stumbled back in shock.
"What are you?" he whispered.
"Something new," I said, and pressed both hands against the glowing wall. "Something you should've never created."
My blood sank into the symbols. The entire chamber started shaking. Cracks spread across the sealed wall like spider webs, and golden light blazed through them—so bright it hurt to look at.
Behind the seal, something screamed. Not in pain. In joy.
"It's waking up!" one of the cultivators yelled. "Everyone, prepare binding formations! We can still capture it if—"
The wall exploded.
Golden flames poured out like a tidal wave. Everyone scattered, trying to avoid the blast. I couldn't move—the fire was coming straight at me.
This was it. This was where I'd burn to death for real this time.
But the flames didn't hurt.
They wrapped around me like a warm blanket. Like coming home. And in the fire, I saw her—the phoenix. She was magnificent. Made of pure golden flames, wings spread wide enough to fill the entire chamber, eyes like molten suns.
"Little broken child," her voice echoed in my mind, ancient and powerful. "You freed me from my prison. You, who were betrayed like I was betrayed. You, who burned with rage like I burned with pain."
"Please," I whispered. "Help me. I need your power. I need to—"
"I know what you need. I know what you seek." The phoenix lowered her head until her burning eyes were level with mine. "Vengeance. Power. The strength to make those who hurt you suffer. I can give you this. But the price is steep."
"I'll pay it."
"You don't even know what I'll ask."
"I don't care!" The words burst out of me. "They took everything from me! My family, my love, my future! They ripped out my spiritual root and threw me away like garbage! If I have to die seventeen times to make them pay, I'll do it. If I have to die a thousand times, I'LL DO IT!"
The phoenix was silent for a moment. Then she laughed—a sound like crackling fire and windchimes.
"You have the rage. You have the will. And you already carry demon fire in your veins. Interesting. Very interesting." Her flames burned brighter. "Never has a human-demon hybrid sought phoenix rebirth. This will either kill you completely... or create something the world has never seen."
"I'll take those odds."
"Then burn, little one. Burn and be reborn. Seventeen times you will die. Seventeen times you will rise. And if you survive, you will become my daughter. My heir. My vengeance given form."
The golden flames surged, swallowing me completely.
And I started screaming.
The pain was beyond anything I'd imagined. Beyond the ritual array. Beyond the demon transformation. This was my entire body being unmade at the molecular level and rebuilt in fire.
I died.
The world went black, and for a moment there was nothing. No pain. No anger. Just peaceful emptiness.
Then the flames dragged me back.
I woke up screaming again as my body rebuilt itself. Every nerve ending felt like it was being carved with hot knives. My bones melted and reformed. My blood boiled in my veins.
Death number two.
When I came back the second time, I could see through the flames. Elder Liu and his cultivators were trying to reach me, trying to pull me out of the fire. Shen Qinghe held them back with a wall of spiritual energy.
"Let the child finish!" she shouted. "Interrupt the phoenix rebirth and she'll die for real!"
"That's the point!" Elder Liu snarled. But he couldn't break through Shen Qinghe's defense.
Third death. Fourth death. Fifth death.
Each time I died, I saw fragments of memories—not mine. The phoenix's memories. Battles against demons. A terrible betrayal by someone she trusted. Being sealed in this mountain by cultivators who feared her power. Ten thousand years of burning alone in the dark.
She and I weren't so different.
Sixth death. Seventh death. Eighth death.
My body was changing with each resurrection. My hair turned silver-gold, like moonlight mixed with fire. My skin began to glow faintly, as if I had swallowed the sun. The black scales from Hei Long's transformation started turning golden at the edges.
"She's merging both," I heard Hei Long whisper in awe. "Phoenix and demon. This shouldn't be possible."
Ninth death. Tenth death. Eleventh death.
The chamber was full of golden and black smoke now, swirling together. Two opposite energies that should've destroyed each other were instead becoming one. Through the haze, I saw Elder Liu's face—terrified. Good. He should be terrified.
Twelfth death. Thirteenth death. Fourteenth death.
By the fourteenth death, I stopped screaming. The pain was still there, but I was starting to understand it. Pain was just energy. Energy was just power. And power was what I needed.
Fifteenth death. Sixteenth death.
On the sixteenth death, I didn't want to come back. The darkness was so peaceful. So quiet. No betrayal. No pain. No memories of Father's cold face or Lin Xian's smile.
But then I remembered: they thought I was dead. They were celebrating. Living my life. Stealing my future.
Rage pulled me back to life one more time.
The seventeenth death was different. This time, when my body burned away, I felt the phoenix's presence inside the flames with me. And Hei Long's darkness. And my own human soul. Three beings, three powers, merging into something entirely new.
"Enough," the phoenix said softly. "You've proven yourself. Now rise, daughter. Rise and become what you were meant to be."
I opened my eyes.
The chamber had gone silent. Everyone was staring at me.
I stood up slowly. My body felt light, powerful, perfect. Golden flames danced along my arms, mixing with black demonic smoke. My silver-gold hair floated around me like I was underwater. When I looked down at my hands, they glowed with inner fire.
I was beautiful. Terrifying. Powerful.
Everything I needed to be.
Elder Liu took a step backward, his face pale. "What... what are you?"
I smiled, and flames flickered between my teeth.
"I'm the girl you tried to kill," I said, my voice echoing with three tones—human, demon, and phoenix. "I'm your biggest mistake."
Then the phoenix's final gift hit me—knowledge pouring into my mind like a river. Cultivation techniques. Combat forms. Ancient secrets. The power to heal and the power to destroy.
And one more thing: a prophecy. A warning. A terrible truth the phoenix had kept hidden for ten thousand years.
My smile faded as I understood what I was seeing.
"What's wrong?" Shen Qinghe called out, concerned.
I stared at Elder Liu, then at my hands, then at the symbols still glowing on the walls.
"The seal," I whispered. "It wasn't just holding the phoenix prisoner."
"What do you mean?"
I looked up at her, horror and excitement warring in my chest.
"The seal was holding something else too. Something that was feeding on the phoenix's power to stay imprisoned. And I just broke it."
The ground started to shake. Not like before. Worse. Like something enormous was waking up beneath us.
From deep below the chamber, a voice spoke—older than the phoenix, darker than Hei Long, more terrible than anything I'd imagined:
"FREE. AFTER TWELVE THOUSAND YEARS. FREE."
The chamber floor cracked open, and from the darkness below, something ancient reached up with claws made of shadow and hunger.