Lin Yue POV
I woke up in chains.
My wrists were bound with spiritual suppression shackles that burned against my skin. Every time I tried to summon my phoenix flames, the chains glowed red hot and sent pain shooting through my arms.
"Lin Yue! Are you okay?" Hei Long's voice sounded distant, muffled. "These chains are blocking our connection. I can barely reach you."
"Where am I?" I whispered, my throat raw.
I already knew the answer. The room was familiar—cold stone walls, a single window with iron bars, the smell of incense that had always made me feel sick. This was the Lin family estate. Specifically, the underground prison where they kept people who'd offended the clan.
They'd brought me home like a criminal.
The door opened, and Lin Xian walked in. She looked different from the last time I'd seen her—more beautiful, more confident. My Pure Yin spiritual root had made her powerful. She practically glowed with spiritual energy.
My spiritual energy. Stolen and transplanted into her.
"You're awake," she said, smiling that perfect smile I used to trust. "Good. Father was worried Elder Liu had damaged you during transport."
"Damaged me?" I tried to stand, but the chains pulled me back down. "You mean kidnapped me?"
"Kidnapped is such an ugly word." Lin Xian circled me slowly, examining me like I was an interesting insect. "We prefer to think of it as... reclaiming family property."
Rage burned in my chest, hot enough to make the chains glow. "I'm not property. I'm not yours. I survived your murder attempt. I became powerful. You can't just—"
"Can't we?" Lin Xian crouched in front of me, her face inches from mine. "Little sister, you don't seem to understand your situation. You're bound with Heaven-Sealing Chains. They suppress all spiritual power. You can't use your phoenix flames. Your demon won't wake. You're as helpless now as you were on your eighteenth birthday."
The words hit like physical blows. She was right. Without my powers, I was just a girl again. Weak. Vulnerable. Everything I'd sworn never to be again.
"Why bring me back?" I asked. "You already took my root. What more do you want?"
"Everything." Lin Xian stood up, brushing imaginary dust from her dress. "Your phoenix flames. Your demon fusion. Your connection to that Immortal Venerable who tried to protect you. Father realized something important while watching you fight—you're not a failure anymore. You're valuable. And valuable things belong to the Lin family."
"The Immortal Venerable will come for me," I said, trying to sound confident. "Jun Wuya will—"
"Will what? Destroy an entire clan for a girl he just met?" Lin Xian laughed. "Please. Immortal Venerables don't care about mortals. He probably forgot about you the moment Elder Liu dragged you away."
Her words shouldn't have hurt. Jun Wuya and I barely knew each other. The fated bond didn't mean he actually cared about me as a person.
But I remembered the look on his face when Elder Liu grabbed me. The fear in his eyes. The way he'd promised to protect me.
He'd come. I had to believe he'd come.
The door opened again, and Father walked in. He looked older than I remembered—more gray hair, deeper wrinkles. But his eyes were the same. Cold. Calculating. Looking at me like I was a puzzle to solve, not a daughter to love.
"Lin Yue," he said, his voice flat. "I'm disappointed. I thought you'd died on Desolate Peak like you were supposed to. Instead, you gained power and caused problems for this family."
"Problems?" I laughed bitterly. "I caused problems? You tried to KILL me!"
"I made a business decision." Father said it so casually, like he was discussing the weather. "Lin Xian needed your root. The family needed Elder Liu's resources. You were expendable. Nothing personal."
Nothing personal. He'd sold me to a demon cultivator, ripped out my spiritual root, and left me to die—and it was nothing personal.
"You're a monster," I whispered.
"No." Father shook his head. "I'm a practical man. And practically speaking, you're worth more alive than dead now. Your phoenix flames can be harvested. Your demon fusion can be studied. And your connection to the Immortal Venerable makes you valuable as a hostage."
Horror washed through me. "Hostage?"
"We've already sent word to Frozen Moon Peak." Lin Xian smiled. "Demanding that the Immortal Venerable provide cultivation resources in exchange for your safe return. If he cares even a little bit, he'll pay. If not..." She shrugged. "We harvest your phoenix flames and move on."
They were going to use me. Again. Just like before, but worse this time because I'd actually fought back and it hadn't mattered.
"You won't get away with this," I said, even though I didn't believe my own words. "Someone will stop you."
"Who?" Father asked. "The Immortal Venerable who hasn't interfered in mortal affairs for three thousand years? The Celestial Dawn Sect that has no idea where you are? Or perhaps the ancient entity that's bound to you and will kill anyone you love?"
He knew about the entity. Of course he did. Elder Liu had probably watched the whole fight.
"Face reality, daughter." Father's voice was almost gentle, which made it worse. "You're alone. Helpless. Exactly where you started. The phoenix transformation was impressive, but it changes nothing. You're still our tool to use as we see fit."
The door opened a third time, and Elder Liu entered. He looked excited, carrying a scroll covered in complex diagrams.
"I've modified the extraction array," he announced. "This version will harvest the phoenix flames without killing her. We can extract power repeatedly, like milking a spiritual cow." He grinned at me. "You should be honored. You'll contribute to the family's cultivation for years to come."
A spiritual cow. That's what I'd become. An animal to be used and drained over and over.
"The extraction begins tonight," Father said. "Elder Liu needs time to prepare. Lin Xian, stay with her. Make sure she doesn't try anything foolish."
Father and Elder Liu left. Lin Xian sat down in a chair across from me, pulling out an embroidery project. Like we were two sisters having a pleasant afternoon together, not a prisoner and her jailer.
"You know," she said after a while, "I used to be jealous of you. All the time. Every single day."
"I know," I said quietly. "You told me when you were stealing my root."
"But now?" She looked up from her embroidery. "Now I just feel sorry for you. You tried so hard to become powerful. Died seventeen times. Merged with a demon. Gained a fated partner. And where did it get you? Right back here. In chains. Waiting to be used."
She was trying to break me. I could hear it in her voice. She wanted me to give up, to accept this nightmare as inevitable.
But I wasn't the same girl who'd begged for mercy on her eighteenth birthday.
"Hei Long," I called silently, pushing against the chains' suppression. "Can you hear me?"
Silence. Then, very faintly: "...barely. These chains are strong. But they're not perfect. Give me time. I can weaken them from the inside."
"How much time?"
"Hours. Maybe until midnight."
The extraction was tonight. Midnight might be too late.
I looked at Lin Xian, at her perfect face and stolen power. An idea formed—dangerous and possibly stupid, but it was all I had.
"Sister," I said, making my voice small and scared. "Please. Don't let them do this to me. You won. You have everything you wanted. Just let me go."
Lin Xian's expression softened slightly. "I... I'm sorry, Lin Yue. I really am. But Father's orders are absolute. I can't—"
"You can!" I leaned forward as much as the chains allowed, letting tears fill my eyes. "You're powerful now. Important. Father would listen to you. Just tell him to let me go. Please. I'll disappear. You'll never see me again."
For a moment—just a moment—I saw conflict in her face. Guilt. Maybe even regret.
Then her expression hardened. "No. You'd come back for revenge. I know you would. Better to keep you here where we can control you."
She went back to her embroidery, and my brief hope died.
Hours passed. The sun set outside the barred window. I heard servants preparing the ceremony hall above—the same hall where they'd celebrated my eighteenth birthday before trying to kill me.
History was repeating itself.
"Almost there," Hei Long whispered. "The chains are weakening. When they take you upstairs, I'll break through. Be ready to run."
"I can't run. Not without dealing with them first."
"Little host, there are too many. Even with your full power—"
"I don't care. I'm not running anymore."
The door opened. Father stood there with four guards. "It's time. Bring her to the ceremony hall."
The guards unchained me from the wall but kept my wrists bound. They dragged me upstairs, through familiar corridors I'd walked as a child. Other clan members watched us pass, some looking curious, others guilty. None tried to help.
The ceremony hall had been transformed into a ritual chamber. Arrays covered every surface, glowing with hungry spiritual energy. And in the center, the same extraction platform where they'd stolen my Pure Yin root.
Elder Liu waited there, grinning. "Welcome back, Lin Yue. Let's see what treasures we can harvest from you this time."
They forced me onto the platform. Started binding me with more chains. Activating the arrays.
And then—
The entire estate shook.
A massive spiritual pressure descended from the sky, so powerful that everyone except Father and Elder Liu collapsed to their knees. The pressure was cold. Merciless. Ancient.
Jun Wuya's voice echoed through the estate, carrying the weight of ten thousand years of cultivation:
"I gave you one chance to release her peacefully. You refused. Now I'll show you what happens when someone touches what belongs to me."
The ceiling exploded inward, and Jun Wuya descended on a platform of ice, his frozen sword blazing with power that made the air itself crystalize.
Our eyes met across the chaos, and through the golden thread, I felt his rage. His fear. His absolute determination to save me.
But then Elder Liu laughed, pressing something against my neck. A talisman that burned like acid.
"One step closer, Immortal Venerable," he said cheerfully, "and I detonate this Spiritual Bomb Seal. It'll kill the girl instantly, along with everyone in this building. Your move."