Chapter 43: The Smoke Beneath
Western Peaks — Shrine Courtyard
That night, Mei Xiao couldn't sleep.
She sat beneath the red-leafed tree, knees pulled to her chest, watching the flickering flames that danced silently along the branches. It should've felt warm, but it didn't. Not really. Not when her mind was spinning like a washing machine on turbo.
A fragment of the Phoenix Queen?
She sighed.
"Mei Lin," came a soft voice.
She turned. Murong Jing He stood a few feet away, his robe loosened slightly at the collar, hair half-tied. He looked... human. And tired.
"I was Mei Xiao," she whispered. "Before all this. A nobody."
"You're not nobody," he said, walking closer. "You're the woman who called me an emotionally constipated ice sculpture on our wedding night."
"…In my defense," she said, cracking a smile, "you were being very sculpture-y."
He actually smiled. Barely. But it counted.
His tone dropped lower. "You've changed. From the first day."
"So have you," she said, meeting his gaze. "You used to look at me like I was a trap."
"You were."
Oof. Direct.
Then his voice softened. "But now… I find myself hoping it's a trap I never escape."
Mei blinked, caught off guard by the honesty in his voice. Heat rose in her cheeks—and not from the phoenix flame.
Before she could answer, however—
---
Scene Parallel – The Obsidian Sect Fortress
The underground chamber pulsed with dark energy. Red lanterns flickered as shadows twisted along the stone walls. At the center stood a man in silver-black robes, eyes glowing faintly violet.
Wen Yu, High Strategist of the Obsidian Sect, lowered the cracked scroll onto the obsidian altar. "The seal is destabilizing."
Another figure emerged from the gloom—tall, hooded, voice dripping with mockery. "So the little Phoenix has begun to remember."
Wen Yu didn't look up. "She's bonded with Murong Jing He. He's protecting her."
"A pity," the hooded man sneered. "I was hoping to tear them apart after the wedding."
Wen Yu touched the scroll with gloved fingers. "Let them collect the fragments. Let them believe they're in control."
"And when all seven are gathered?"
Wen Yu's lips curled.
"We steal them all in one strike."
The chamber went still—only the flames hissed, as if aware something ancient stirred in the deep.
---
Back at the Shrine
Mei Xiao shivered. Not from the cold—but from something else.
Like a heartbeat in the ground.
Jing He noticed. "Something wrong?"
She opened her mouth.
Then—
A roar.
From deep below the mountain.
Not human. Not beast.
Ancient.
Jing He's hand went to his sword in a flash. Mei stood, breath short.
"Guess the welcome party's here," she said, voice tight.
He stepped in front of her.
"No. Not yet."