Lin Yue POV
I looked the woman straight in the eyes and made my choice.
"I chose it," I said. My voice didn't shake. "My family tried to kill me. Ripped out my spiritual root. Left me to die. A demon offered me survival, and I took it. I'd do it again."
The woman's expression didn't change. She studied me like I was an interesting puzzle. The silence stretched so long I thought she might strike me down without another word.
Then she smiled. "Good answer."
"Good answer?" I blinked. "You're not going to kill me?"
"Why would I kill you?" She crouched down to my level. "You're honest. Most people would've lied, tried to make themselves look innocent. But you owned your choice. That takes courage."
"Or stupidity," Hei Long muttered in my head. "We can't tell if she's genuine or playing with us."
The woman tilted her head, studying my demonic features. "My name is Shen Qinghe. I'm the Sect Master of Celestial Dawn Sect. And you, child, are the most interesting thing I've found in fifty years."
"Sect Master?" My stomach dropped. Sect Masters were incredibly powerful. If she wanted me dead, I wouldn't stand a chance.
"Tell me everything," Shen Qinghe said, sitting on the ground like we were old friends. "Start from the beginning. And don't leave anything out."
Something about her tone made me trust her. Or maybe I was just desperate. Either way, the whole story poured out—the birthday betrayal, Lin Xian's two years of poisoning, the ritual array, the collapsing cave, making a deal with Hei Long to survive.
When I finished, Shen Qinghe was quiet for a long moment.
"The Lin Clan," she finally said, her voice cold as winter. "I know them. Weak cultivators who've been desperate to rise in status for generations. So desperate they'd sacrifice their own daughter." She looked at me. "You should be dead. By all logic, you should be dead three times over."
"I know."
"But you're not. Because you refused to die." Shen Qinghe stood, brushing dirt from her robes. "That kind of will is rare. Precious. And completely wasted if you die in this forest because you don't know how to control demonic cultivation."
Hope sparked in my chest. "Are you saying—"
"I'm saying come with me." Shen Qinghe extended her hand. "Let me teach you. Not just how to survive, but how to become powerful enough that your family will regret everything they did."
"It's a trap," Hei Long warned. "She's a righteous cultivator. They hate demons. She'll probably try to exorcise me the moment we're alone."
But looking at Shen Qinghe's outstretched hand, I didn't sense any lies. Just... curiosity. And maybe something like pity.
"Why would you help me?" I asked. "I'm part demon now. Aren't righteous cultivators supposed to kill people like me?"
"People like you?" Shen Qinghe's laugh was sharp. "Child, you're not 'people like anyone.' You're unique. A human-demon fusion that happened by choice, not corruption. That's never been documented before." Her eyes gleamed. "Besides, I don't believe in 'righteous' versus 'evil.' I believe in what people do with their power. Your family used theirs to betray and murder. You used yours to survive. Which one of you is really the monster?"
The question hit me hard. I'd been calling myself a monster in my head since the transformation started. But was I? Or was I just someone who refused to be a victim?
I took her hand.
Shen Qinghe pulled me to my feet easily. "Good. Now, we have a problem. Your demonic transformation is only halfway complete. If we leave it unfinished, you'll die within a week. Your human and demon sides will tear each other apart."
"What?" Panic shot through me. "Hei Long didn't mention that!"
"I was going to tell you eventually," Hei Long said defensively. "You need a catalyst to complete the fusion. Something with massive spiritual energy to bind us together permanently."
"Like what?" I demanded out loud.
Shen Qinghe's expression turned serious. "Like a phoenix flame."
The world seemed to stop.
"Phoenix flame?" I repeated slowly. "Those are myths. They don't actually exist."
"They're very real. And very rare." Shen Qinghe started walking, gesturing for me to follow. "There's one source I know of—Desolate Peak, about twenty miles from here. An ancient phoenix spirit is supposedly imprisoned in the mountain. Its flames could stabilize your transformation."
"Or kill us," Hei Long added helpfully. "Phoenix fire and demonic energy are opposites. Mixing them is insane."
"But possible?" I asked.
"...Possible. If you survive the process."
"More death and pain." I laughed bitterly. "Seems to be my specialty lately."
Shen Qinghe glanced back at me. "I won't lie to you. The phoenix rebirth ritual requires you to die and resurrect multiple times. Seventeen times, according to the ancient texts. Each death will be agony. Most people break after three."
Seventeen deaths. Seventeen times feeling my body burn away to nothing and rebuild itself. The thought made me want to vomit.
But then I remembered Father's cold face. Lin Xian's triumphant smile. Zhao Ming calling me worthless.
"I'll do it," I said. "Whatever it takes."
Shen Qinghe stopped walking and turned to face me fully. "You understand what you're choosing? This isn't like your demon fusion. This will transform you completely. You'll become something that's never existed before—human, demon, and phoenix, all in one body. You won't be able to go back to being normal."
"I don't want to go back." The words came out fierce and certain. "Normal got me betrayed and nearly killed. I want power. I want my family to look at me and feel the fear I felt in that basement."
"Then let's go to Desolate Peak." Shen Qinghe resumed walking. "We'll need to prepare you first. The ritual requires—"
She stopped mid-sentence. Her head whipped around, looking back the way we'd come. "Hide. Now."
"What—"
"NOW!" She shoved me behind a large tree just as voices echoed through the forest.
"—sure you saw movement here?" That was Elder Liu's raspy voice.
"Positive." Another voice I didn't recognize. "Demonic energy signature. Fresh. Within the last hour."
My blood turned to ice. They were hunting me. But how did they know I survived?
"The smoke," Hei Long realized. "When we emerged from the cave, my demonic energy would've left traces. They sensed it."
I pressed against the tree, trying to make myself invisible. Through a gap in the branches, I could see them—Elder Liu and three other cultivators, all scanning the area with glowing spiritual sense.
"If there's a demon nearby," Elder Liu said, "we need to destroy it before it threatens the city."
One of the cultivators bent down, examining the ground where I'd been lying moments ago. "The energy is concentrated here. And there are footprints. Human-sized."
"A demon in human form?" Elder Liu's eyes narrowed. "Dangerous. Very dangerous. Spread out. Find it."
They were going to find me. I could feel Shen Qinghe's spiritual energy building, preparing to fight. But four against one—even a Sect Master might struggle.
Then the cultivator examining the ground looked up sharply. "Wait. This energy signature... there's something else mixed in. Phoenix resonance?"
Elder Liu went very still. "Phoenix? Impossible. Unless..."
His gaze slowly turned toward Desolate Peak, visible in the distance. Then his face split into a terrible smile.
"The seal," he whispered. "When we harvested the girl's Pure Yin root, we must have weakened the seal on Desolate Peak. The phoenix is waking up."
The other cultivators looked excited. "Master Liu, if we could capture even a fragment of phoenix flame—"
"We'd be unstoppable." Elder Liu's smile grew wider. "Forget the demon for now. We're going to Desolate Peak. If that phoenix is waking, we'll be there to claim its power."
They took off, flying on spiritual swords toward the mountain.
Shen Qinghe stepped out from hiding, her face grim. "They're going to try to steal the phoenix flame before we can get to it."
"Can they do that?" I asked. "Steal it?"
"If they bind it before it chooses a host, yes." She looked at me. "We need to move. Now. If Elder Liu gets that phoenix flame, he'll become nearly invincible. And your transformation will fail. You'll die."
"Wonderful," Hei Long said. "Death by transformation failure, or death racing evil cultivators to a mountain. Such excellent choices."
"Can we beat them there?" I asked.
Shen Qinghe shook her head. "They have spiritual swords. We're on foot. They'll reach the peak first."
My mind raced. Father and Elder Liu had tried to kill me once already. If they got phoenix power, I'd never be able to face them. Never get revenge. Never make them pay.
Unless...
"What if we don't go to the peak?" I said slowly. "What if we go inside the mountain?"
Shen Qinghe's eyes widened. "The cave system. Of course. The phoenix is imprisoned in the mountain's core, not at the peak. If we enter from below—"
"We might reach it first." I felt a grim smile cross my face. "And I already know where one cave entrance is. The one that collapsed back at the Lin estate. If we dig through—"
"No time for digging." Shen Qinghe grabbed my arm. "But I can blast through rock. Hold on tight, child. This is going to be unpleasant."
Her spiritual energy exploded around us, lifting us into the air. We shot toward the Lin estate like an arrow, wind screaming past my ears.
Below, I could see Elder Liu and his group racing toward Desolate Peak's summit.
It was a race now. Whoever reached the phoenix first would control my fate.
And I refused to let my family control anything about me ever again.