Lin Yuyan's POV - Moments Before Arriving at Heavenly Sword Sect
"You don't have to do this yet."
Yan Xiu's voice cut through my concentration as I stood at the edge of demon territory, staring toward Heavenly Sword Sect in the distance. Smoke rose from the sect grounds. Battle sounds echoed across the mountains.
"They're under attack," I said flatly. "Demon cultivators. I can sense the corrupted energy from here."
"So let them burn. You've only been training for six months. Real time, anyway." Yan Xiu crossed his arms. "Inside the caves, yes, you spent three years. Your power jumped to mid-Heaven stage, which is impressive. But you're not READY for—"
"I'm ready." I pulled the jade mask over my face—the one I'd crafted myself during training. White jade carved with phoenix patterns. "This is perfect timing. They'll be desperate. Weak. They'll see what they threw away."
"Yuyan—"
"That's not my name anymore." My voice came out cold. Hard. "Lin Yuyan died when she fell off that mountain. I'm Fairy Yue now."
Yan Xiu studied me with those ancient red eyes. "You've changed. Not just your power or your hair color. Your heart. You used to cry at the thought of revenge. Now you look excited about it."
He was right. I SHOULD feel guilty about being eager to watch my enemies suffer.
But I didn't.
"They taught me that mercy is weakness," I said. "That love makes you vulnerable. That the only thing that matters is POWER." I turned to face him. "Thank you for those lessons, Demon Lord."
"Those were demon lessons, little phoenix. You're supposed to balance them with your human heart." His expression grew serious. "Don't lose yourself completely. Revenge is fine, but becoming a monster just to hurt your enemies? That's a price too high."
"I'll pay whatever price necessary."
Phoenix flames erupted around me—controlled now, beautiful, deadly. My silver-white hair whipped in the energy wind. Power thrummed through every cell of my body.
I'd spent three years in hell caves facing my worst memories. Three years healing injured demons and learning to control impossible power. Three years transforming from victim to VICTOR.
"Last chance to wait," Yan Xiu said softly. "A few more months of training, and you'd be absolutely—"
"No." I launched into the sky on phoenix fire wings. "They're dying RIGHT NOW. Perfect timing. I want Xiao Chen to see me when he's at his weakest. When he's lost everything. Just like I was when he threw me away."
Behind me, Yan Xiu sighed. "Revenge really is the best motivator. And the worst addiction."
I didn't hear the rest. I was already flying toward the sect at lightning speed.
The battle was chaos.
I arrived to find Heavenly Sword Sect's defensive formations broken. Demon cultivators—the corrupted human kind, not actual demons—swarmed the walls. Disciples fought desperately. Bodies littered the ground.
In the center of the main courtyard, I spotted him.
Xiao Chen.
On his knees. Blood pouring from a wound in his chest. A demon cultivator's sword had pierced his cultivation core—a fatal injury.
My breath caught.
He's dying.
The thought should have made me happy. Satisfied. VICTORIOUS.
Instead, something twisted in my chest. Something that felt horribly like panic.
No. You don't get to feel sorry for him. He DESERVES this.
But watching him fall, watching his life drain away—
I couldn't.
Damn it, I COULDN'T.
"PHOENIX FLAMES!" I roared.
Golden-red fire exploded from my body, consuming every demon cultivator in range. They screamed as the purifying flames burned away their corrupted energy. The corrupted elders who'd betrayed the sect tried to run—my flames caught them anyway.
In seconds, I'd killed fifty enemies.
The battlefield went silent.
Everyone stared at me as I descended, walking through my own flames like they were nothing more than warm air.
A woman in fancy robes—young, beautiful, FAMILIAR—stepped forward. "Who are you?"
Qingxue. My sister. Looking exactly as I remembered, except her eyes glowed with corrupted cultivation energy.
"Someone very disappointed in all of you," I said coldly.
"I asked your NAME." Qingxue's hand glowed with dark power. "Identify yourself or—"
"My name is Fairy Yue." I let my cultivation aura flare—mid-Heaven stage, enough to make even Qingxue step back in fear. "And I'm here to collect a debt."
I walked past her like she was invisible, heading straight for Xiao Chen.
He knelt in a pool of his own blood, barely conscious. Ji Mingyu crouched beside him, trying desperately to stop the bleeding with useless healing techniques.
"Move," I ordered.
Ji Mingyu looked up at me, tears in his eyes. "Please, if you can help him—he's dying—the wound destroyed his cultivation core—"
"I said MOVE."
He scrambled aside.
I knelt beside Xiao Chen and placed my hands over his chest wound. This close, I could see how much he'd changed. Dark circles under his eyes. Lines of stress on his face. He looked exhausted. Miserable. Broken.
Good.
"Yuyan?" he whispered, his eyes struggling to focus through my mask.
My hands trembled. "You're hallucinating. Yuyan is dead. You made sure of that."
"Those eyes..." His hand reached up weakly, trying to touch my mask. "I know those eyes..."
"Stop talking. You're wasting energy you don't have."
I summoned phoenix flames—but not killing flames. HEALING flames. The kind I'd spent three years perfecting in demon territory.
Golden light poured from my hands into his wound.
His cultivation core was shattered. Normally, that meant permanent crippling or death. But phoenix flames could rebuild what was broken. Slowly. Painfully.
The process would take hours and drain most of my energy.
Why am I doing this? a voice screamed in my head. Let him DIE. He deserves it!
But another voice—quieter, but somehow stronger—whispered: You're not a murderer. You're better than them. Prove it.
"Why are you helping him?" Qingxue's shrill voice cut through my concentration. "He's your ENEMY, isn't he? Some righteous sect grudge?"
I didn't answer. Just kept healing.
"Answer me!" She grabbed my shoulder.
Phoenix flames erupted from my body, throwing her backwards. She crashed into a wall twenty feet away.
"Touch me again," I said without looking at her, "and I'll burn you to ash."
Nobody moved after that.
I worked for two hours, kneeling in blood, pouring my life energy into the man who'd destroyed me. The man I was supposed to hate.
The man whose death I couldn't bear to watch.
I'm weak, I thought bitterly. Three years of training, and I'm still weak.
Finally, his cultivation core stabilized. Not healed completely—that would take weeks more treatment—but stable enough that he wouldn't die.
I stood up, exhausted, my legs shaking.
Xiao Chen grabbed my hand. His grip was weak but desperate. "Wait. Please. Don't go."
"Let go."
"Who are you? Really?" His grey eyes searched my masked face. "Why do you feel so familiar?"
"Because," I said quietly, "I'm the ghost of every mistake you ever made."
I pulled my hand away and turned to face the gathered crowd. Hundreds of disciples, elders, and fighters stared at me with awe and fear.
"Heavenly Sword Sect," I announced, my voice carrying across the courtyard, "is under Fairy Yue's protection. Any demon cultivator who attacks this place again will answer to me. Spread the word."
"Wait!" Ji Mingyu stepped forward. "Lady Fairy Yue, please—we need help. Our sect master is injured. Our defenses are broken. Could you—"
"Could I what? Stay and play hero?" I laughed bitterly. "No. I saved his life because I don't kill helpless people. But I owe him NOTHING else."
I started walking toward the exit.
"Yuyan, PLEASE!"
Xiao Chen's voice—desperate, broken, BEGGING—made me stop.
I looked back over my shoulder. He'd struggled to his feet somehow, swaying, blood still dripping from his wounds.
"It IS you," he breathed. "Under that mask. You're alive. You survived."
The entire sect went silent.
"Yuyan?" Qingxue's voice went shrill with panic. "No. NO. You're DEAD. We threw you—" She cut herself off, realizing what she'd just admitted.
I turned to face them fully. Slowly, deliberately, I reached up and removed my jade mask.
Let them see.
Let them SEE what they'd created.
Gasps echoed across the courtyard. My silver-white hair. My gold-flecked eyes. My face—still recognizable as Yuyan, but harder, colder, POWERFUL.
"Hello, Sister," I said to Qingxue. "Surprised?"
She looked like she might faint.
I turned to Xiao Chen. He stared at me like I was a miracle and a nightmare combined.
"Hello, Husband." I smiled, and it wasn't kind. "Did you miss me?"
His legs gave out. He collapsed, unconscious from shock and blood loss.
Ji Mingyu caught him, then looked at me with tears streaming down his face. "Lady Yuyan. You're alive. Thank the heavens, you're—"
"I'm not that girl anymore." I replaced my mask. "Tell him when he wakes up: I saved his life today because I'm not a monster. But that's the ONLY mercy he'll get from me. Next time we meet, it won't be as his savior."
"Next time?" Ji Mingyu's voice shook. "What do you mean?"
I summoned phoenix wings and launched into the sky.
"It means," I called down, "that I'm coming back. When I do, I'm taking EVERYTHING he values. His sect. His reputation. His power. His pride."
I looked directly at Qingxue, who stared up at me with terror.
"And you, dear Sister? You I'll save for last. Because death is too quick. I want you to SUFFER first."
Phoenix flames erupted around me as I flew away, leaving Heavenly Sword Sect in stunned silence.
Behind me, I heard Qingxue scream in rage and fear.
I smiled behind my mask.
Phase one complete, I thought. He knows I'm alive. He knows I'm powerful. Now he'll spend every day wondering when I'll return to destroy him.
The real revenge starts NOW.
Far below, Xiao Chen regained consciousness just long enough to whisper one thing before passing out again:
"She's alive. Yuyan is alive. And she HATES me."
Then darkness took him, and his last thought was simple:
I deserve whatever she does to me.