Chapter 14: Caged Phoenix

Scene 1: Trapped in the Crucible

The ruins of Luoyang's Mingtang shimmered coldly under moonlight as Shen Qinghuan's magnetic luopan screeched. Wang Zhen's earring signal split into seven hundred blood-red threads, each ensnaring resurrected corpse soldiers—their foreheads plastered with altered portraits of Shen, their Nine Palaces tattoos oozing fluorescent venom, weaving a spiderweb-like killing array across the rubble.

"Mistress—soul-devouring miasma!" Lin Yuan's DNA earrings shattered as blood-vines erupted from Su Que's Tengshe hexagram. Before they could draw blades, the vines dragged their thrashing bodies into shadows behind bronze pillars.

The red-clad woman emerged from behind the taotie statue, her belly's spacetime vortex now engulfing her chest. Chen Guodong and Wang Zhen knelt like puppets at her sides, bronze conduits jammed into their eye sockets, their flesh withering into pus-blood dripping into her vortex. "Shimei studied the Hàn Lóng Jīng well—yet did you foresee me nourishing dragon veins with living flesh?"

Scene 2: Sacrificial Array

Shen hurled lightning-struck jujube spikes, only to watch them deflect off an electromagnetic barrier. The woman stroked her belly, seven hundred bronze chains snaking from the vortex to link the corpses into an inverted Purple Forbidden Enclosure. Amid clattering chains, Wang Zhen's scalp split open, revealing the eerie blue glow of a subcutaneous antimatter reactor.

"Half these sacrifices are your handiwork." The woman traced Wang's "Guizang Empress" scalp tattoo, crimson droplets rolling into the vortex. "From Zhabei's developers to Lujiazui's shareholders—when you forced them to kneel and kiss your marks, did you imagine their flesh would feed me?"

Shen's serpent sigil flared violently, interrupted by Lin Yuan's scream. Su Que dangled mid-air, the Tengshe hexagram on her chest morphing into a black hole devouring light.

Scene 3: Poisoned Wings

"Three breaths to break the array!" Lin bit her tongue, painting a forbidden Hàn Lóng Jīng sigil in blood. Shen split their assault: Lin drew Pojun curses in blood, Su Que disoriented corpses with anesthetic smoke, while Shen lunged for the woman's navel—the array's weak point.

A hairpin's breadth from the vortex, the woman ripped open her belly—

Emerald poison surged like living serpents, nano-parasites buzzing thunderously within the fog. Shen's serpent sigil radiated protective gold light, only to watch the Tengshe hexagrams on Lin and Su Que rebel—turning their bodies into toxin fuel. Su Que's corrupted tattoos split, mercury vapor and parasites flooding her orifices; Lin's DNA earrings exploded, shards embedding in her eyes as chips replayed six-year-old Shen curled in a wardrobe.

"Every Tengshe needle held mind-control parasites." The woman ground her stiletto into Su Que's pulsing carotid. "You thought you healed your maids? They were my living bombs!"

Scene 4: Phoenix Bound

Shen groped for her hairpin, only for Wang's mechanical hand to snap her wrist. Chen Guodong's chest cavity opened, projecting a hologram: six-year-old Shen strangled by the red-clad woman, whose belly swelled in real time. "Each timeline where I kill you matures my dragon-vein fetus."

Seven hundred bronze mirrors rose from the earth, reflecting countless defeated Shens—some bisected by Empress Wu in court, others strangled by Chen in modern hotel baths. The central mirror seared the eyes: the woman cradled a blood-soaked infant mirroring Shen's features, its instep tattooed "Long Live the Celestial Bureau Sovereign."

"Meet my daughter." The woman pressed the baby to the glass. Shen's shattered wrist flared—bronze chains from the vortex yanked her into the mirror array's heart.

Scene 5: The Hidden Blade

"You thought victory possible?" The woman tore Shen's robes open, gilded nail poised at her navel. "Hàn Lóng Jīng Volume III decrees: Those who defy fate die here!"

Green gas erupted from the woman's belly, engulfing Shen and her maids in unconsciousness.

When Shen stirred, she found herself bound to a pillar in an opulent palace. The red-clad woman lounged on a throne, Chen and Wang still kneeling with bronze conduits draining their essence into her swelling power. Her stilettos pressed against Su Que and Lin's throats.

"Kneel and kiss my feet, Shen Qinghuan. I'll spare your pets." The woman's sneer echoed. Su Que and Lin strained against paralysis, eyes pleading for defiance.

Shen summoned her qi—but her power lay dormant. Across the hall, the woman siphoned Chen and Wang's life force, her aura thickening to suffocating dominance.

Is this the end? Shen's mind raced. I've yet to reach my zenith—how can I fall here?

The woman's laughter rattled the mirrors. "Your feng shui ends tonight, Shimei. The throne belongs to the true Empress."