Lin Yue's POV
"That's not my mother," I said, my voice shaking. "My mother died fifteen years ago. I watched her funeral. I cried at her grave."
But the woman riding the demon tiger had my mother's face, my mother's golden eyes, even my mother's smile—the one she used to give me before bedtime.
"Lin Yue, sweetling," the woman called out, her voice echoing across the mountain. "Don't you recognize your own mother? I've missed you so much."
"You're lying!" I screamed. "My mother would never work with demons!"
"Your mother was always working with demons, child." She laughed, and it sounded like breaking glass. "How do you think you got that Phoenix bloodline? I made a deal with the Demon Emperor twenty-five years ago. He gave me power, and I promised him my firstborn daughter when she came of age."
The world tilted sideways. "No..."
"Yes! I married your father to hide among mortals while I raised you. Fed you special herbs to strengthen your blood. Taught you cultivation in secret so you'd be the perfect sacrifice." Her smile widened. "Then those idiots in the cultivation world discovered what I was doing, so I had to fake my death and go into hiding. But I've been watching you, sweetling. Waiting for you to grow strong enough."
Shen Qinghan stepped in front of me protectively. "You're not taking her."
"Oh, the famous Sect Master Shen Qinghan." My mother's eyes glittered with amusement. "The man who was supposed to die from my poison five years ago. You're surprisingly resilient."
"That was you?" Shen Qinghan's voice went deadly quiet. "You're the one who poisoned me?"
"I needed to test if my daughter would save a dying stranger. And she did! Such a good, kind girl." Mother clapped her hands mockingly. "She passed my test perfectly. Now she's ready for her true purpose."
Everything I knew about my life was a lie. My mother's kindness, her teachings, her death—all of it was manipulation to turn me into a sacrifice.
"Father knew?" I whispered. "Did Father know what you were?"
"Your father?" Mother's expression turned cold. "That weak, pathetic mortal? He knew nothing. He actually believed I loved him. As if a Phoenix Clan member could love a human with no cultivation." She waved her hand dismissively. "I would have killed him years ago, but keeping him alive helped you stay hidden. You're welcome."
Rage exploded through me—rage like I'd never felt before. My spiritual energy erupted uncontrolled, and golden flames burst from my hands.
"You used him! You used me! You used everyone!"
"Of course I did. That's what power is for, sweetling." Mother's demon tiger growled, and the five hundred cultivators behind her raised their weapons. "Now, you can come with me willingly and your father lives. Or you can resist, and I'll have the Azure Cloud Sect Master kill everyone you've ever cared about. Starting with dear Officer Lin."
"Don't listen to her," Shen Qinghan said firmly. "We can fight—"
"No, you can't." A new voice spoke from the sky.
A man descended on a massive blue crane—the Azure Cloud Sect Master, wearing elaborate robes and a cruel smile. "Shen Qinghan, you're outnumbered ten to one. Surrender the Phoenix girl, and we'll let your sect live."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then we kill everyone." The Azure Cloud Sect Master gestured, and his disciples drew swords that glowed with deadly spiritual energy. "We have no quarrel with Heavenly Sword Sect. This is purely business. The girl's blood for the Demon Emperor's freedom. Simple transaction."
"She's not a transaction!" Shen Qinghan's aura exploded outward. "She's a person!"
"She's a tool." My mother's voice was ice. "A tool I spent twenty years creating. And I'm taking back my property."
Property. She called me property.
Around me, Heavenly Sword Sect disciples were gathering—maybe two hundred total, all ready to fight despite being outnumbered. They were willing to die for me, a girl they'd just met.
While my own mother wanted to use me as demon food.
"Lin Yue." Shen Qinghan's hand found mine, squeezing gently. "Whatever you decide, I'm with you. If you want to fight, we fight. If you want to run, we run. Your choice."
My choice. When had anything in my life ever been my choice?
I looked at the disciples around me—young people with families, with dreams, with lives ahead of them. Then I looked at my mother's cold smile and the demon tiger's hungry eyes.
"I'll go with you," I said quietly.
"NO!" Shen Qinghan grabbed my shoulders. "Lin Yue, you can't—"
"I can, and I will." I met his ice-blue eyes. "You barely know me, Shen Qinghan. Don't throw away your sect for someone you met three days ago."
"You saved my life five years ago! You think I'm just going to—"
"Yes. Because that's what I want." I pulled away from him, my heart breaking. "Thank you for trying to protect me. But this is my burden, not yours."
I started walking toward my mother, each step feeling like death.
Behind me, I heard Shen Qinghan's voice crack. "Lin Yue, please. Don't do this."
I didn't look back. Couldn't look back, or I'd lose my courage.
My mother smiled triumphantly as I approached. "Smart girl. Your father's life is spared."
"Where is he?" I demanded.
"Safe. For now." She gestured to the demon tiger. "Climb on. We have three days to prepare you for the summoning ritual."
Three days. I had three days to live.
I climbed onto the demon tiger behind my mother, my hands shaking. The beast's fur felt wrong—too hot, smelling of sulfur and death.
"Wait!" Shen Qinghan's voice stopped me. He was running toward us, his hand outstretched. "At least tell me—why? Why save me five years ago if you knew this would happen?"
I looked at him—this man who'd tried to protect me, who'd declared war for me, who looked at me like I mattered.
"Because people should help people," I said softly, repeating the words I'd told him years ago. "Fight for the innocent, not glory. Remember?"
His eyes filled with tears. "Lin Yue—"
"And Sect Master?" I managed a small smile. "Thank you for making me feel like a person instead of a tool. Even if it was just for three days."
The demon tiger launched into the air before he could respond. Below, I saw Shen Qinghan fall to his knees, surrounded by his disciples.
I'd saved them. That's what mattered.
Even if it cost me everything.
We flew for hours, the five hundred cultivators surrounding us like a prison. My mother didn't speak, just hummed an old lullaby she used to sing me as a child.
It made me want to vomit.
Finally, we landed at a massive fortress carved into a mountain. Demon beasts patrolled the walls, and the air reeked of dark cultivation.
"Welcome home, sweetling," Mother said, dragging me off the tiger. "Your room is waiting."
My room was a cage. Literally. A golden cage in the center of a huge chamber, surrounded by demon summoning arrays drawn in what looked like dried blood.
"Three days," Mother said cheerfully, locking me inside. "Then you get to meet the Demon Emperor! Aren't you excited?"
"You're insane," I whispered.
"No, I'm ambitious. There's a difference." She patted the cage bars. "Rest now. The ritual requires you to be in perfect condition. We can't have damaged goods."
She left, and I was alone in the cage with my thoughts and terror.
I'd made a mistake. A huge, terrible mistake. I should have fought with Shen Qinghan. Should have trusted that together we could find another way.
But it was too late now.
I curled up in the corner of the cage, hugging my knees, and for the first time in years, I cried.
Three days until I died. Three days to somehow escape an army of cultivators and my psychotic mother.
Three days to—
The chamber door opened.
I looked up, expecting Mother. Instead, I saw a figure in a hooded cloak slip inside, moving like a shadow.
They approached my cage and lowered their hood.
My heart stopped.
It was Zhang Wei, my ex-betrothed. The man who'd betrayed me with the communication talisman.
"What are you doing here?" I hissed.
"Saving you," he whispered back, pulling out a key. "I know I don't deserve forgiveness, but I can't let them kill you. I just can't."
"This is a trick—"
"It's not a trick!" His hands shook as he fumbled with the lock. "When I saw what they were planning, when I realized they were going to sacrifice you to summon the Demon Emperor—Lin Yue, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Please, let me help you."
The lock clicked open.
Zhang Wei pulled the cage door wide. "There's a secret passage behind the left wall. It leads to the demon breeding chambers, but if you're careful, you can get to the mountain exit. I'll create a distraction—"
Alarms started blaring. Red lights flooded the chamber.
Zhang Wei's face went white. "No. No, it's too soon, they weren't supposed to check on you until—"
The door burst open.
My mother stood there with twenty demon-possessed cultivators, and she was smiling.
"Thank you, Zhang Wei," she said sweetly. "You played your part perfectly."
Zhang Wei's jaw dropped. "What? But you said if I freed her—"
"I lied." Mother laughed. "Did you really think I trusted you? You're the idiot who betrayed her once already. I just needed her to trust you enough to leave the cage willingly."
She gestured, and the demon cultivators grabbed both of us.
"You see, sweetling," Mother said to me, "the Demon Emperor requires two sacrifices. One Phoenix blood descendant, and one person who betrayed that descendant out of love."
She looked at Zhang Wei with mock sympathy.
"Congratulations. You both get to die together."