Chapter 10: Labyrinth Unfolds

Su Mingli's fingers whitened around the letter bearing Gilded Bronze Figures. Legends made flesh—and now intertwined with the azure poison in Xiao Jingxuan's veins.

"Where did this come from?" Her voice sharpened with newfound wariness.

Xiao Jingxuan leaned back, knuckles rapping the rosewood desk. "Three days past, an assassin breached my estate. Two shadow guards fell before we subdued him. This—" He flicked the parchment, "—clung to his corpse."

"You interrogated him?"

"He bit cyanide." His smile chilled the air.

"Predictable." Her nail tapped the letter's edge. "This sigil—I've seen it before."

Xiao Jingxuan's gaze turned dagger-sharp. "Where?"

"An ancient medical treatise. It marks artificers who crafted..." She hesitated, "...mechanized constructs."

"Constructs?" His thumb grazed the parchment's crest. "You suggest the Figures aren't mere medical relics—but living machines?"

"Worse." Her pulse quickened. "If fused with human biology—gene modification. Body augmentation."

Silence pooled between them like spilled ink.

"A blessing," Xiao Jingxuan finally mused, "or a plague?"

"Depends whose hands mold it." Her stare pierced him. "Sage's tool... or tyrant's weapon."

He rose abruptly, shadow engulfing her. "Then we'll witness its truth firsthand."

"Where?"

"Chang'an." His smile held winter's edge. "Where else do phoenixes rise from ashes?"

Beyond the window, night hung like spilled ink. Somewhere in the dark, gears began turning.