Phoenix Ascendant: Rebirth of the Heaven's Chosen Phoenix Maiden

I crouched in the shadow of the wedding bed, the metallic tang of blood rising in my throat. Twin dragon-and-phoenix candles stretched Xie Jingzhi’s silhouette into a monstrous shape. The porcelain bowl in his hands glinted crimson, mirroring Jiang Xueli’s pomegranate-red skirts as they slithered over scattered longan and lotus seeds—symbols of marital bliss now twisted into venomous serpents. “Elder Sister, it’s time for your medicine.” Her smile bloomed like a nightshade flower. As the liquid swirled in the bowl, memories of my past life flashed: Father collapsing before the ancestral altar, fingertips charred from clutching the Shen family’s jade crest. Mother’s white silk noose swaying from the beam. My infant brother’s corpse, mottled with bruises yet clutching Jiang Xueli’s coral earring… “Did you think…” I smashed the bowl against the floor, shards slicing my palm, “the Shen bloodline would kneel to traitors?” Where my blood struck the golden nanmu floorboards, indigo flames erupted—not ordinary fire, but the ancestral Netherflame that once incinerated armies. Xie Jingzhi’s peony-embroidered robes caught fire, his screams harmonizing with the silver bells on Jiang Xueli’s wrists. “A phoenix is reborn…” I laughed hoarsely as flames climbed his throat, “through ashes!” Pain swallowed me whole. Yet in the darkness, a clear phoenix cry pierced the heavens. Rainwater seeped through the temple’s sagging roof, each drop sizzling where it touched my healing skin. The stench of mildew and old blood clung to the air. Chains scraped against stone, a sound like bones dragged across iron. Lightning flashed. The man chained to the shattered War God statue was a nightmare made flesh. Raven hair clung to marble-pale skin, black iron chains piercing his collarbones. Beneath his translucent chest, dark veins pulsed like living cartography—a writhing map of the Nine Provinces. Xiao Yunjin. In my past life, this Northern Ming hostage prince had died nameless in a ditch. Now, his predator’s gaze locked onto me, pupils dilating with feral hunger. “You—” His icy lips brushed my throat, breath carrying the cloying sweetness of Fusheng Wine—the same scent that lingered in Father’s study before his death. When his fangs pierced my jugular, I pressed a silver hairpin to his heart. But as my blood flooded his mouth, visions detonated: A younger Xiao Yunjin kneeling in a storm, a cursed bronze spike through his chest. Jiang Xueli cradling my spirit tablet in a moonlit graveyard, her shadow merging with a hooded astrologer. Xiao Yunjin standing atop a mountain of corpses, clutching charred phoenix bones as blood-tears etched his cheeks. “Phoenix…” He recoiled, golden veins receding where my blood touched. A twisted smile split his face. “Your fire burns brighter than the Hellforges.” Hoofbeats thundered outside. Xiao Yunjin shoved me beneath the rotting altar, shedding his bloodstained robe. Candlelight revealed what shadows hid—a tattoo at his nape, the Nine-Layered Pagoda sigil of the Godslayer Pavilion. “Play dead,” he whispered, pressing a dagger to my ribs, “or I’ll make it real.” The doors burst open. Jiang Xueli stepped through the storm, her oil-paper umbrella dripping silver rain. The bells on her wrists chimed—a sound that once lulled me to sleep—as crimson centipedes crawled from her hair. “How careless of rats to leave such a mess.” She crouched to inspect a poison bowl shard, her spidersilk sleeve brushing my hiding place. Xiao Yunjin suddenly bit my bleeding fingertip, his tongue lapping the blood. The golden veins on his chest contracted. “First question—” His lips grazed my ear, “Why recognize the Godslayer’s Nine-Soul Shackles?” The altar exploded. I rolled toward the shrine’s hidden compartment, triggered by ancestral memory. Inside lay a jade box—the lost River-Mountain Token erupted in crimson light! “So this is the key the Astrologer seeks!” Jiang Xueli’s bells shrieked, shaking the temple. Xiao Yunjin hauled me through the window as her curse echoed: “Shen Zhaoyue! You’ll never escape 300 lifetimes of fate!” Rain lashed our faces as we fled into the storm. Xiao Yunjin’s grip tightened around my waist, his breath ragged against my neck. The golden veins on his chest pulsed erratically, mirroring the lightning above. “Second question,” he rasped, pulling me into a moss-slick cave. “What price does your blood demand?” I pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the unnatural chill beneath his skin. “Your soul,” I said coldly. “Every drop binds you tighter to the Netherflame’s curse.” He laughed, a sound like shattered glass. “Then let us burn together, Phoenix.” Before I could react, he tore open his robe. The scar over his heart—a jagged bronze keyhole—glowed faintly. My breath caught. In Father’s secret scrolls, that symbol marked the Seal of Nine Hells, a relic said to imprison ancient demons. Jiang Xueli’s voice slithered through the cave entrance: “Did you think a few raindrops could quench my children’s hunger?” A swarm of centipedes flooded the chamber, their mandibles dripping acid. Xiao Yunjin shoved me behind him, drawing a blade etched with phoenix feathers. “Third question,” he said, slicing his palm to smear blood on the blade. “Will you trust a monster?” The weapon flared with blue fire. As he lunged at the swarm, I grabbed the River-Mountain Token. Its light revealed the cave walls’ hidden carvings—a mural of a phoenix and a nine-tailed fox locked in battle. The Fox of Xiliang… Jiang Xueli’s true patron. “The game changes now,” I whispered, plunging the token into a crevice. The cave shuddered, revealing a staircase spiraling into darkness. Xiao Yunjin’s bloodstained grin flashed in the firelight. “Lead the way, Oracle.” We emerged into an underground cavern where a nine-story wooden pavilion hung suspended over a chasm. Masked attendants with bronze bells bowed as they handed us a blood-jade invitation: “The VIP chamber awaits, furnished with Ice-Silk Quilts to soothe your Phoenix blood.” The quilt’s embroidered lotus patterns mirrored those from my bridal chamber in the past life. Xiao Yunjin’s eyes narrowed. “A trap woven with memories.” The auction began with a bone-chilling clang. The central ice coffin shattered, revealing a woman who shared my face—the “Three-Hundred-Year-Old Phoenix Vessel.” Her neck bore the same writhing golden veins as Xiao Yunjin’s chest. “Five hundred spirit stones!” shouted a veiled envoy from Xiliang. Xiao Yunjin raised his bidding token. “One thousand.” The auctioneer’s bone staff pointed at us. “The final bid requires your most precious possession.” Xiao Yunjin pushed me forward, exposing the Phoenix bite mark on my neck. “The Godslayer’s bride. Is that sufficient?” Before the crowd could react, I flung a Soul-Devouring Gu into the auctioneer’s mouth. As he convulsed, I grabbed Xiao Yunjin and leaped into the abyss. “Trust me,” I hissed, biting my tongue to smear blood on his lips. “Phoenix blood opens the path between realms.”