Xialing watched her father's composure crack like ice under a hammer. She'd never seen him lose control like this, not even when their mother had died. Taking a breath to steady herself, she repeated her words with deliberate clarity.
"I found a way to resurrect Mom."
Xu Wenwu surged forward, his hands clamping down on Xialing's shoulders with bruising force. "Tell me," he demanded, his voice raw with desperate urgency. "What method? How?"
Pain lanced through Xialing's shoulders. "Father," she gasped, "you're hurting me."
Wenwu released her immediately, stumbling back to his chair as if the realization had physically struck him. He sat heavily, his hands trembling slightly before he clasped them together.
"After your mother passed," he began, his voice quieter now but no less intense, "I was lost. Truly lost, in ways I'd never experienced even in a thousand years of life."
He stared at something beyond the walls of the room, lost in memory. "When you ran away, Shang-Chi, when you left me, Xialing, I understood that I needed answers. I needed hope. So I set the Ten Rings Army to a new mission: gather every scrap of information, every legend, every whisper about resurrection from across the entire world."
His jaw tightened. "I've studied Western vampires and their blood magic. I've investigated werewolf resurrection myths. I traveled to Egypt and explored the pyramids, searching through ancient hieroglyphs for the pharaohs' secrets of eternal life."
Wenwu's gaze grew distant. "I even journeyed to Kunlun, that mystical city hidden in the mountains. I met Shou Lao, the dragon who grants power to the Iron Fist. But even he could not help me."
He looked back at his children, and the pain in his eyes was terrible to see. "Now I'm researching Ta Lo, the village where your mother grew up. When we fell in love, I wanted to stay there with her, to make a life in that magical place. But the elders felt I was unworthy. They drove me out."
His voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "Your mother chose to leave with me. In doing so, she gave up her connection to Ta Lo's power, the magic that had protected her for so long. If she had kept that strength, those assassins would never have been able to..."
He couldn't finish the sentence.
Guilt crashed over both Shang-Chi and Xialing like a physical wave. All these years, they'd thought their father had simply buried himself in violence and conquest, becoming the tyrant they'd fled from. They'd never imagined he was searching, desperately and methodically, for a way to bring their mother home.
Xialing had even participated in the Dragon Ball tournament with selfish motivations mixed into her desire to resurrect her mother. The weight of that realization made her chest tight.
"Father," she said softly, "the method to bring Mom back involves something called the Dragon Balls. We need to collect all seven of them."
Wenwu's brow furrowed. "Dragon Balls? I know of Shou Lao in Kunlun. He is a divine dragon, ancient and powerful."
He shook his head slowly. "I visited him years ago, seeking exactly what you're describing. Shou Lao told me that if your mother had just died, if I'd come to him immediately, he could have restored her life for a price. But after so many years?" Wenwu's expression grew grim. "Even Kunlun's dragon cannot reverse death that has set so deeply into the world's fabric."
Both Shang-Chi and Xialing stared at their father in shock. There was an actual dragon in Kunlun? A real divine being with the power to resurrect the dead? The revelation made them realize just how much deeper the supernatural world ran than they'd ever suspected.
Xialing recovered first. "Father, I don't think Shou Lao and the Dragon Balls are related. They're completely different things."
She pulled out her tablet, swiping through until she found the images she'd saved. Seven glowing orange spheres appeared on the screen, each one marked with a different number of red stars.
"These are the Dragon Balls," she explained, turning the screen toward her father. "There are seven of them, each representing a number from one to seven. When someone collects all seven and passes the Fraternity's assessment, they can summon Shenron, the Eternal Dragon. Shenron grants the summoner a single wish."
Wenwu leaned forward, studying the images with the intensity of a general analyzing enemy fortifications. His eyes narrowed. "Tell me everything about these Dragon Balls. More importantly, explain why you believe this is real and not an elaborate con by the Fraternity."
Xialing took a breath and began her story, holding nothing back. She explained how she'd first acquired a Dragon Ball through trade, how it had eventually ended up in the hands of John Wick as payment for a debt. She described how the Fraternity had guided Wick through the process of collecting all seven Dragon Balls.
"John Wick's wish was to resurrect his dead wife," Xialing said, pulling up more files on her tablet. "I have evidence. Hospital records showing her death, the rescue attempts, her burial documentation. All of it confirmed and verified."
She swiped to surveillance photos. "And here's proof she's alive now, living at the Fraternity's headquarters. A woman who was absolutely, medically, legally dead is now breathing and walking around."
Shang-Chi picked up the narrative. "The Dragon Balls appeared again a year later. When I touched one, information flooded into my mind. Knowledge about what they could do, how they worked. I found Xialing, and we both entered the Dragon Ball tournament."
"A tournament we lost," Xialing added, her voice tight with frustration and residual shame.
She met her father's eyes. "The Dragon Balls are sacred objects protected by the Fraternity. Anyone who wants to make a wish must pass their assessment, prove themselves worthy somehow. The leader of the Fraternity treats the Dragon Balls as opportunities to be distributed to all living beings, not hoarded for personal use."
The moment she finished speaking, Wenwu's hand slammed down on the wooden table in front of him. The ancient hardwood exploded into splinters, fragments scattering across the floor. The crack of breaking wood echoed through the room like a gunshot.
Both children flinched backward, eyes wide.
Wenwu stared at the destroyed table, his chest heaving with barely controlled fury. His children had been so close to giving him back his wife, and they'd failed. If he had known, if he had been there instead of them...
He forced himself to breathe, to center his rage before it consumed him entirely. "I apologize," he said after a long moment. "I shouldn't have lost my temper."
He looked at them both, and despite his calm words, intensity burned in his eyes. "But you must understand my desire to bring your mother back. You must."
Wenwu stood and began pacing, processing the information. "You mentioned that Tony Stark participated in this tournament. Iron Man. And the Hulk, that green monster I've heard about. And a vampire elder named Selene."
Both children nodded.
"And Selene won?" Wenwu asked.
"Yes," Xialing confirmed.
"What did she wish for?"
Xialing and Shang-Chi exchanged glances. "We don't know the exact wish," Xialing admitted. "But we're certain it was granted. The dragon definitely appeared."
She leaned forward. "Right after the battle ended, the entire world went dark for a moment. Like someone had turned off the sun. I believe that was connected to Shenron's manifestation."
Shang-Chi added, "There's something else you should know. John Wick claimed the Fraternity doesn't force people who make wishes to join their organization. But from what we've observed, both Wick himself and the entire vampire clan are now part of the Fraternity. They're the only two cases we know of where wishes were granted, and both joined afterward."
Wenwu stopped pacing, rubbing his temples as he processed this information. "The Fraternity," he mused. "I remember hearing about them centuries ago. A European assassin's guild, founded over a thousand years ago if the stories are true."
He frowned. "But they definitely didn't have any Dragon Balls back then. I would have heard about objects that powerful."
His expression hardened with resolve. "However, if joining the Fraternity is what it takes to resurrect your mother, I won't hesitate. I would join a thousand organizations, make a thousand oaths, if it meant bringing her back."
Wenwu had actually visited the Fraternity once, centuries ago, out of curiosity about the legends surrounding them. Their performance had been underwhelming. During his era, Europeans had been considered barbarians by the courts of the East, barely worthy of attention. The Fraternity had seemed like just another gang of thugs with delusions of grandeur.
Clearly, things had changed.
"I understand their current leader is named Smith Doyle," Wenwu said. "And that he's gained quite a reputation. What do they call him? God?"
Xialing nodded and launched into an explanation of what she knew about Smith Doyle. His public appearances, his display of power against the Hulk, the way he'd destroyed the Destroyer in New Mexico. The media had started calling him America's Superman, a one-man army capable of leveling cities.
When she finished, Wenwu smiled. It was not a pleasant expression. "A superman. A living god. That does sound formidable."
He began walking toward the door, purpose evident in every stride. "But power is relative. I've wielded the Ten Rings for over a thousand years. There are very few beings in this world who can withstand their might."
Wenwu's voice carried absolute confidence, the certainty of someone who had conquered armies and toppled kingdoms. "I will pay Smith Doyle a visit. A respectful visit, of course. And I will borrow the Dragon Balls from him."
Alarm shot through Xialing. She knew that tone, had heard it before battles and conquests. Her father wasn't planning a diplomatic negotiation. He was planning to take what he wanted, one way or another.