Lin Yue's POV
The Demon Lord's massive claw tore through the dimensional rift, and the air itself screamed.
I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. The creature was too big, too wrong, its red eyes blazing with hunger as it forced its way into our world.
Shen Qinghan was still fighting the possessed disciples, his sword a blur of deadly light. But even he couldn't fight in two directions at once.
The Demon Lord's second claw emerged, gripping the edges of the rift and pulling. Its mouth—filled with rows and rows of razor teeth—opened in a roar that shook the entire sect.
"LIN YUE, RUN!" Shen Qinghan screamed.
But I wasn't running. Not anymore. Not when he was about to die protecting me.
My mother's voice echoed in my memory: "True strength isn't about power, Yue'er. It's about what you're willing to sacrifice for others."
I'd spent five years hiding my cultivation, terrified of being discovered. Five years letting fear control my life.
Not anymore.
I pulled my hidden sword from my back and channeled every drop of spiritual energy I had into the blade. Ice spread from my hands, covering the metal in frost that glowed with golden light—my mother's phoenix bloodline awakening fully for the first time.
"Elder Zhao!" I shouted. "You want a demon collaborator? Fight a real one!"
I launched myself at the Demon Lord, my sword aimed straight for its emerging head.
The creature's eyes focused on me, and its massive jaws opened wider. I was an insect to it, barely worth noticing.
But insects could still sting.
My Severing Frost technique hit the Demon Lord right between its eyes, and the ice exploded outward in a burst of golden-white light. The creature shrieked—an ear-splitting sound that shattered windows across the sect—and recoiled back through the rift.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Elder Zhao screamed. "A Golden Core cultivator can't harm a Demon Lord!"
"I'm not just a Golden Core cultivator!" I landed hard, my legs shaking from the spiritual energy drain. "My mother was from the Phoenix Clan, and her blood runs through my veins!"
The Demon Lord thrashed, half in our world and half in the demon realm. My attack hadn't killed it—not even close—but I'd hurt it enough to slow it down.
Shen Qinghan used that moment to finish off the last possessed disciple. Then he was beside me, his hand gripping my shoulder.
"Phoenix bloodline?" His eyes were wide. "Lin Yue, that's—"
"A secret I just revealed to everyone watching." I gestured to the dozens of sect disciples now gathering, drawn by the commotion. "So much for staying hidden."
"We'll deal with that later." His jaw set with determination. "Right now, we end this."
He raised his sword high, and his Nascent Soul cultivation exploded outward. The air turned to ice around us, and his blade began to glow with power that made my Phoenix technique look like a candle next to the sun.
"Azure Sky Sword—Ninth Form!" His voice boomed. "Heavenly Execution!"
The sword strike that followed was beyond anything I'd ever seen. A pillar of blue-white light shot from his blade straight into the Demon Lord's chest, and the creature's screams reached a pitch that made my ears bleed.
The dimensional rift collapsed with a thunderous crack, and the Demon Lord was pulled back into the demon realm, still screaming, still thrashing.
Then silence.
Elder Zhao stood frozen, his face white with shock. Around him, the possessed disciples he'd controlled all collapsed, the demon marks fading from their necks as whatever held them shattered.
"It's over, Elder Zhao." Shen Qinghan's voice was colder than his ice techniques. "You've lost."
"Lost?" Elder Zhao laughed, high and broken. "You think this is over? The Demon Lord was just the beginning! I've been planting demon seeds throughout this sect for five years! In the walls, in the water, in the—"
His eyes went wide. He clutched his chest, and black blood poured from his mouth.
"What—" He fell to his knees. "What did you—"
"The tea you drank at dinner," Shen Qinghan said coldly. "I had a feeling you'd try something tonight, so I poisoned it. The same poison you used on me five years ago, actually. Poetic, don't you think?"
Elder Zhao's eyes bulged. "You... you knew... this whole time..."
"I've suspected you for years. Tonight you just gave me the proof I needed." Shen Qinghan's expression didn't change as the elder collapsed, dying. "You betrayed everything this sect stands for. Consider this mercy—the execution would have been much slower."
Elder Zhao twitched once, twice, then lay still.
I stared at Shen Qinghan, seeing him truly for the first time. He wasn't just the kind man I'd saved five years ago. He was a Sect Master who could kill without hesitation when necessary.
"You poisoned him," I whispered.
"Yes."
"You planned this. Let him think he was winning."
"Yes."
"You used me as bait."
He finally looked at me, and pain flickered in his ice-blue eyes. "Yes. And I'm sorry. But I needed him to reveal his full conspiracy, and he wouldn't have done that unless he thought he'd already won."
I should have been angry. Should have felt used. But looking at Elder Zhao's body and remembering the Demon Lord, remembering how close we'd come to disaster...
"Did you know about my Phoenix bloodline?" I asked.
"No. That was a surprise." A small smile. "A good surprise, but still a surprise."
Around us, disciples were whispering, pointing at me. The secret was out. Everyone now knew that Officer Lin's daughter was a cultivator with Phoenix Clan blood—one of the legendary noble bloodlines.
"What happens now?" I asked quietly.
Before Shen Qinghan could answer, a disciple ran up, his face panicked.
"Sect Master! We found something in Elder Zhao's quarters! Demon breeding chambers in the basement, and—" He swallowed hard. "And documents. Contracts. Elder Zhao was working with Azure Cloud Sect and Demon Suppression Temple. They've all been breeding demons together."
The blood drained from Shen Qinghan's face. "All three major sects?"
"Yes, Sect Master. And according to these documents, they're planning something big. Something called the 'Crimson Ascension.'" The disciple's hands shook as he held out a blood-red scroll. "They're going to summon the Demon Emperor in three days at the Heavenly Blade Summit. And they need—"
He looked at me, his eyes filled with horror.
"They need Phoenix blood to break the seal."
My knees went weak. "They're coming for me."
"Not just coming." Another disciple ran up, this one even more panicked. "Sect Master, two sects' worth of disciples just surrounded our mountain! Azure Cloud and Demon Suppression Temple forces—over five hundred cultivators! They're demanding we hand over the Phoenix bloodline girl or they'll destroy the sect!"
Shen Qinghan's hand found mine, gripping tight. "How long do we have?"
"They gave us until dawn to decide. That's three hours, Sect Master."
Three hours. Three hours until I had to choose between surrendering myself to be sacrificed or letting an entire sect die for protecting me.
"There's more," the first disciple said weakly. "The documents say your stepmother and half-sister are the ones who informed the other sects about your Phoenix blood. They're outside right now with the Azure Cloud Sect Master, demanding a reward for their information."
Of course they were. Mei Ling and Mother had sold me out again, but this time to people who literally wanted to drain my blood for a demon summoning ritual.
"What do we do?" I asked Shen Qinghan.
His jaw clenched. "We fight."
"Against five hundred cultivators? You'll all die!"
"Then we die protecting what's right." He turned to face his disciples, his voice ringing with authority. "Prepare for battle! Every able-bodied disciple to the defensive formations! We're going to war!"
The disciples scattered to follow his orders, but I grabbed his arm.
"You can't do this. Too many people will die for me. I should just—"
"No." His eyes blazed. "I failed to protect you five years ago. I'm not failing again. Even if I have to fight the entire cultivation world."
"But—"
A massive explosion rocked the mountain. The three hours were up.
Or the other sects had decided not to wait.
Through the smoke and dust, I saw them coming—hundreds of cultivators in blue robes (Azure Cloud) and red robes (Demon Suppression Temple), flying on spirit swords and beasts.
And leading them, riding a massive demon tiger, was a woman who looked exactly like an older, crueler version of me.
"That's impossible," I breathed. "She's been dead for fifteen years."
Shen Qinghan's face went white. "Who is that?"
"My mother," I whispered, my entire world shattering. "My real mother. The one who supposedly died when I was twelve."
The woman smiled, her golden eyes—my eyes—glowing with power and madness.
"Hello, daughter," her voice carried across the mountain. "Time to come home and fulfill your destiny. The Demon Emperor is waiting."
My mother was alive.
My mother was working with demons.
And my mother was coming to sacrifice me herself.